


The Bleeding Heart of the Oborozuka Vampire

by Benedict_SC



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Operation V.K., Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry
Genre: Gen, Murder Mystery, Recursive Fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-06-15 23:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15424227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benedict_SC/pseuds/Benedict_SC
Summary: Neither an Umineko fic nor a Danganronpa fic, exactly- it's a red/blue truth duel gameboard in the Umineko style, featuring characters from KinuNishimura's excellent DR fic Operation VK. Basically a detective novelette, a whodunit with robots and vampires and construction foremen and other such fantastical things that may or may not be real.





	1. Chessboard Construction

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Danganronpa: Operation V.K.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11965917) by [KinuNishimura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinuNishimura/pseuds/KinuNishimura). 



> Welcome! The Oborozuka Vampire is causing trouble for Ultimate Foreman, Yayoi Murasaki- she can probably handle it, but she could use your help. The first three chapters should lay out the facts of the case- once that's all established, feel free to try your hand at theorizing (or even solving) in the comments.

The Bleeding Heart of the Oborozuka Vampire

~ Shinobu Koshimizu ~

* * *

Dedicated to Yayoi Murasaki, who won.

* * *

O

"W-wait! P-please be careful with that! It's not built for one person to lift!"

"Hahaha, don't worry about it! I got this!"

The man in the construction helmet who'd been carrying the rig grinned at her and hefted the device up to balance it on his knee, freeing up an arm to flex with. He gave her a wink, to accompany the bicep- though his face was clearly straining with the effort.

"N-no, stop! Please hold on to the- oh dear...!"

"I'm not gonna drop it, little lady! Chill!"

"Rizzini!" a voice barked. He spun around, nearly dropping the machine, panic on his face.

"B-boss!"

The boss stared daggers at him. Cocky idiot, about to wreck the whole operation... gah. "She says it's not built for one person to lift, it ain't built for one person to lift! Put it down, already!"

"But-"

"Y'know that's the damn _core,_ right? How'd you like it if I took your fuckin' _head_ and juggled it to show off?"

"Boss, I-"

"I'm _responsible_ if the goddamn client gets _brain damage,_ Rizzini! And if that happens, you can believe you ain't gonna keep this job!"

Rizzini sheepishly put the core down, slowly. "I... wasn't gonna drop it, c'mon, it's not that heavy..."

Boss grabbed the hair on the back of his head, and pulled his face down close to the machine. "You see this, wise guy?"

"I-"

The plastic casing he'd been holding it by was slightly warped, on the verge of cracking. "Use your fuckin' eyes! It doesn't matter how much weight _you_ can take- it's about the core itself! You gotta use the handles, and that's a two-man job!"

"...Ugh. Uh, you're- you're right, Boss."

"Damn straight, I'm right. That's my job, kid!"

"Wh- you're younger than-" he started to say, and then caught a faceful of stink-eye, which shut him up real quick. "I, uh... I'll go get Guns to help."

Rizzini scampered off, and she let out a sigh. Most of the crew was on leave for some holiday or whatever, so it was just her and a skeleton crew of three for the weekend. There was Yutani, who could more or less be relied on... and then she had Rizzini and Nakada, the two least manageable lunkheads in the crew. "Guns" Nakada promised she wouldn't be sloshed on the job today, but odds were she was at least a little buzzed. Rizzini, the American kid, was... well, the incident just now was pretty fuckin' typical. Chronic showoff. With the usual crowd around, they could take orders just fine, but...

All told, if this bunch spent more time getting work done than cleaning up their own mistakes, she deserved a damn _trophy._

"Ah... thank you, Murasaki-san."

Huh? Oh, right. The client.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, it's nothin'. If I'd been on point, I'd've had an eye on him before he had a chance to try a stunt like that." She scratched the back of her head, a little nervously. "I'll make sure it don't happen again."

"Nevertheless... I appreciate your actions."

...Sheesh. It was awkward having the client on-site the whole time, but it was kinda unavoidable, what with the nature of the job. Her and her usual bunch of foulmouthed muscleheads, going about their business in front of this super-polite receptionist-type lady... always felt a little precarious.

White Sky To4ko- pronounced "Toshiko" was a wisp of a thing. Except for the yellow hard hat, she was completely colorless white, head to toe- built pretty, but not to be mistaken for human. Gave her the creeps a little, honestly- just because it make her look sorta like a ghost, and all. Wasn't her fault. The design was White Sky's work- the people she'd been with until now.

Apparently, To4ko was built a while back by the White Sky Logistics corporation as a building management unit. Sort of a corporate smart-home, combination receptionist and Star Trek computer. She'd handle the temperature, the security, the ventilation, keeping the kitchens stocked, handling visitors... that kinda thing. Meant she was built into the walls of the building, her "body" just being there for show, to put a human face on it. She'd never been built to leave the building she was made for- but since the Replicant Employment Act was passed, it was illegal to prevent a replicant from terminating their employment and finding work elsewhere.

That was what made this a tricky job- when she _did_ quit, it meant going into the old building, pulling her out of the walls, and packing her up. That bit had been hard enough- but _now_ they had to take that whole building's wiring, and rewire it to work with a completely different blueprint, without making any cuts or substitutions- since all that wiring was part of a _living person._ It was more like brain surgery than construction, really. Insanely delicate, and never been done before.

Which is why they hired the Ultimate Foreman. For whatever reason, the community manager guy at the Oborozuka Shopping District- Uesawa- was in touch with the Hope's Peak people, and they made a connection there. Brought in a prospective Ultimate to handle building their fancy new mini-mall. Not only was this one of the trickiest jobs she'd ever taken on- not only was she working with a skeleton crew- this was her shot at impressing the eggheads at the super-school.

"Well, uh... gimme a holler if you need anything," Yayoi said. "I'm gonna head outside and check on the tech."

"Thank you very much," To4ko said, doing a- a _curtsy?_ Good grief. Yayoi was pretty sure if _she_ ever tried that, her legs would give their two weeks' notice.

She took her leave pretty quick, leaving To4ko in her little room there. Couch, TV, mirror, space heater... enough to be comfy while people reassembled her body around her.

Right outside the back door, she found Yutani and the guy from White Sky. Scrawny little guy, with a mess of green hair and a patchy goatee. Honorary member of the crew, since White Sky was legally required to provide the necessary technical support to make sure To4ko could get out. They'd fought long and hard to keep from having to pay for their free labor ditching them, but some hotshot attorney- name of Ittosai, or something- had forced them to submit to the law.

The technician- Haruto Hosoo- had a square of the plastic sheeting cut away from the scaffolding of the exterior wall, and was fiddling with something inside, as Yutani held the wall up.

"Careful," Hosoo snapped. "Don't pinch the connecting wire there, it's fiberoptic."

"Got it," Yutani nodded, and shifted the whole upper part of the wall a bit to the left. Unit 9 Yutani was a big guy- had to be. They still didn't have replicant memory storage down to a size where it'd all fit in the size of a human body, so 9 was eleven feet tall and built like a truck. Formerly warehouse equipment at the Yutani corporation, he'd taken his chance to quit when the REA passed, and went into construction with Boss Murasaki's crew. Pound for pound, got more work done than anyone else, and knew his shit, to boot.

"Seriously, it's not that hard," Hosoo said. "Frankly, I don't need to be here. She's completely up to code- all you need is the handbook, and I know you've got the handbook."

"We've got the handbook," Yutani confirmed. "But you said... proprietary."

"Yeah, yeah, 'proprietary'. You didn't hear this from me, but it's a crock of shit. They just stuck a few screws in you need a special screwdriver for, put a few passwords in the OS to get in the way... it's just so you have to pay us for maintenance if something breaks. My job's a fucking joke."

"But you have the passwords," Yutani said.

"And I can't give 'em out, yeah. So you're stuck with me. And _I'm_ stuck tuning up a bot when I _should_ be on vacation."

Boss walked up and tapped Unit 9 on the- well, not the shoulder, his shoulder was out of reach, but on a spot on his back. "Hey. Yutani."

He didn't flinch. "Yeah, Boss?"

"Is Uesawa back yet? We still gotta know where the gas mains are, and he said he'd only be ten minutes."

"...That him over there?"

Yutani literally had eyes in the back of his head, so he saw the man coming down the road before she did. It was Ken Uesawa all right- him and his white getup, with that blue bandanna. Respectable guy. Businesslike and professional, but didn't stand on decorum when it was time to talk straight. From working with the guy so far, Yayoi liked him pretty well. She ran up the road a bit to meet with him.

* * *

Technically, _he_ was the client, not To4ko, but there wasn't much of a difference. He'd been the one to take on her case, when she'd posted the want ad, and spun together like a dozen different development proposals into one big project, with To4ko in the middle of it. A multi-level mini-mall out by the edge of the district, right by the entrance to the scenic trail and the road down to the beach. A little bit off the main Shopping District road, but within view, with the same branding- a little place for modern conveniences on the edge of the wild, he said.

The Shopping District had a _feel_ to it, a feel of it being a _place_ and not a collection of stores. You had a chain hardware store right next to a local souvenir shop that sold tacky beach merch, with a big shark mouth over the door- but it felt like, yeah, of course these are two parts of the same place. Every store was doing cross-promotions with every other store, and even the big chain places like the Lawson felt like local flavor. Plus the smell of free samples from the restaurant next to the butcher's shop... it was a good place. Friendly place. Yayoi was actually kind of proud to be making something that'd be part of this whole scene. Uesawa did good work.

...And he had a couple people with him, looked like.

One was To4ko's friend. What was his name, Masaki? No, Sakaki. Kid with the Hasselhoff haircut and eye-searing fashion sense. True to form, he was apparently talking Uesawa's ear off about some story or other, probably about his dog that couldn't possibly actually speak Russian, that was bullshit. She'd been annoyed by the guy at first, since by all rights he _should've_ been one big distraction, but... it was weird. People seemed to do their jobs _better_ when he was around, no matter how much he ran his mouth. Plus, his being around made the client at ease- To4ko having a friend to talk to took the edge off having the client on-site. Worth having around, at least.

"...no, yeah, I been there! Met one of my best buds there- see, Gav's lookin' for Ruff Ruffhouseman, right? He saw a UFO, or like, lessay it's a frisbee, probly, and just- pow! Off like a bullet, right? And I go lookin' for him, and suddenly- outta nowhere, nine- count 'em, _nine_ toughs with sharp implements are just _right_ in Gav's face, they wanna take me for all I got or else beat the crap right outta me- and man, they were pretty keen on it bein' or-else, for facts. But then- this is where my bud comes in-"

Sakaki was talking to- or more accurately talking _at-_ an exhausted-looking man with piercings and a Hawaiian shirt. The guy looked like he might've been yakuza, except for the doughy physique and related failure to intimidate. That'd be... oh, hell. He'd have to be-

"Murasaki! Hate to break it to you, but we picked up a tagalong on the way back. Needs to talk to you, he says!"

As Uesawa and company approached, it became clear- yeah, this was Taizo Takahata. Chief of HR at White Sky Logistics, and the guy who'd poured thousands into the legal battle over To4ko.

Yayoi groaned. "Sure, fine. You at least got the maps of the gas lines?"

Uesawa waved a rolled-up paper. "Sure did, but you can probably just get started- you already marked out the water lines, and turns out they ran 'em alongside. Same exact layout."

Sakaki turned from bothering Takahata, seeing Yayoi. "Ey, Yeah-yeah! How's it hangin'?"

She sighed. "Don't call me that."

"Trip, man...! Means I gotta come up with somethin' else, huh?"

"Wh- no. Just- Boss is fine."

"...Boss, huh? Like I'm part of the crew?"

 _"Like_ that."

"...Yeah, Gav can prolly swing that! You got it, Boss."

"Just- go check on Toshiko, okay? Rizzini and Nakada are in there movin' her core into place, and I'm startin' to worry she's too polite to smack the shit out of 'em if they start fuckin' it up."

"Hey, have a little faith in my man Ray, aight? You seen the beef on that cake? He ain't gonna have any trouble with that!"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's not- look, his head's beef, too, and he needs an eye kept on 'im. Can't be sure if Nakada's too drunk to be his common sense."

"Wisdom, wisdom," Sakaki said. "Don't worry about it. Gav'll make sure they keep Fours in one piece."

Sakaki high-fived one of Yutani's lower hands on the way in, and was denied a high-five by Hosoo, who was still chest-deep in the wall.

"...So." Boss turned her attention to Takahata. "You still need something?"

"I told him he's not getting it, but he's hunting a second opinion," Uesawa said.

"Shut up, Uesawa," Takahata coughed out. "This isn't community management, this is business. _My_ business."

Uesawa held up his hands in mock surrender and stepped back. "He's all yours, Boss."

"Can we get to the point?" she asked.

"Right to it, yeah," Takahata said. "Look- I'm not here to contest the ruling anymore. The bleeding hearts in the jury already stole away our long-term investment- that's done. There's _no_ reason to get lawyers involved, capiche?"

She folded her arms. "Doesn't sound like gettin' to the point to me."

"Gh- yeah, whatever. Look: it's just a matter of memory. She's got- well, trade secrets, sensitive information, financial stuff... that building's the center of our operations, and that's where our operations need to stay."

"Tell her what you _want,_ Taizo," Uesawa said.

"What I want is- nothing that should be any problem for any of you. Make your lives easier, even. It's win-win."

She sighed. This guy couldn't stop the used car salesman thing for long enough to actually get a word out. "Look, Takahata-san, I've got a busy day ahead of me..."

"You let us in there to take out the information. Just the relevant memories- stuff about the building, who went in and out, supply orders- the stuff that's not important to this, uh, what is it, a mini-mall?"

...Well, that explained why Uesawa was opposed. "You mean... you want to strip her of all her memories that have to do with the building..."

"Yeah, exactly."

She shook her head. "She... _was_ the building, right? Am I gettin' how this works? What memories does she have that _don't_ have to do with the building?"

Takahata scowled. "...Not a lot. I mean, it's fine, though- she'd still know how to do her job, how to talk, yada yada yada. Not planning to make her a vegetable or nothing."

...Was this guy serious? "You wanna... steal her memories of her entire life up until she quit? Don't you think that's kinda...?"

He huffed. "Yeah, it's not ideal. I get what you're thinking. But, listen- we do a lot of business. A lot of _confidential_ business. We can't have someone out there who might spill important information to some, some beach bum, by accident, see? There's- I can't even tell you how much is on the line."

"...Haven't you people heard of an NDA? Gimme a break, here- do you guys clock your human employees over the head when they leave, try and give 'em amnesia?"

Takahata's expression... was weirdly panicked, for a second. "...No, no. Nothin' like that- I mean, you _can't_ do that. Impossible. But if it's an option, then..."

"She _is_ under NDA," Uesawa interjected. "And she's agreed not to tell anyone anything about White Sky's dirty laundry."

"We don't have dirty laundry! The hell kind of accusations...!"

"You're not worried about her deciding to break NDA," Uesawa continued. "You're worried about the Reliable Evidence Act, I'm guessing."

"Shut it, Uesawa!"

Okay, this was getting annoying. These two were having a fight of their own, and she had work to do. "Both of you- quiet! What's- what the Reliable Evidence Act? Why should I care?"

"Passed by the opposition party," Uesawa said. "A replicant involved in a criminal investigation is required by law to testify- under, hell, what's the word, mimeopolygraph? Direct, readable sensory memory is like having security camera tapes, and the police can seize that memory at will."

"Which is absurd! Bigoted! Clearly unjust!" Takahata said. "An invasion of privacy! Just because she's a replicant, the government's allowed to read her mind?!"

"I'm not disagreeing," Uesawa said. "I'm just saying, you seem inordinately worried about what _might_ happen to your company if she's forced to testify in a criminal investigation."

"That's- that's not-"

"Alright," Boss said, rubbing her head. This was getting to be a pain in the ass. "I've heard enough. I don't know if you guys noticed, but I got a job to do? And I'm not getting paid enough to deal with this shady back-alley memory shit. You're on your own, Takahata."

"...Is that a yes?" he asked.

"What the- _no,_ it's not a yes! How do you even get- it's a _piss off,_ already!" She was already heading back inside- not interested in dealing with this guy.

* * *

Inside, Unit 9 was up on the second floor scaffolding working on expanding the roof a bit. There still weren't proper stairs up there- he'd probably just jumped. Guy was more agile than he looked. She was lucky to have him on the team, really.

...Rizzini and Nakada were nowhere to be seen, and noise was coming from To4ko's room. Not a great sign.

She walked over to the room- hard to call it a _room_ when the walls were clear plastic sheeting and there was no door in the doorway- and took a look inside. There, she found...

...Haruto Hosoo, standing over the body of White Sky To4ko.

Bing, bong! A body has been discovered! Is what no one said, because there wasn't anything unusual about this. To4ko's body went offline for maintenance on a regular basis.

"Shit," Hosoo spat. "This isn't normal. She _should_ be online right now..."

"...Somethin' wrong with the client, Hosoo?"

He turned to the boss. "Yeah- after your couple of goons moved the core unit, she's been having some trouble connecting to the body. Right now, it oughta be powered on and active, but... she's just stuck in the core, blind and deaf."

"Oh, for the love of- dammit, dammit, dammit!" She should've _been_ there to supervise that! Not... trusted the job to that Sakaki kid, of all people!

"I think something got damaged in the core, maybe... I'll have to open it up and take a look. Indicator lights say she's fine in there, and it's just a connectivity issue... ugh."

"Cripes, kid, I'm sorry. I'm gonna give those two a real chewing out- this ain't gonna happen again."

He shrugged. "Doubt it's your fault- if all it took was some bumping to mess up the transmitter, there was something wrong already. Better that we found out now, not later."

She punched her palm. That them fucking up happened to be convenient now... didn't excuse them fucking up in the first place. She'd have to give them a piece of her mind.

"...Ugh. It looks pretty serious, though... if I can't find a miracle fix soon, I'm probably going to have to stay the night. You mind?"

"You got a key for a reason. Be my guest."

"Thanks. Can't wait to spend the night in an unfinished building working on delicate electronics. Really doing me a favor, boss."

...Anyway, where _were_ those two? And where was Sakaki, for that matter? She couldn't give them a piece of her mind if they were nowhere to be found.

* * *

She found them a little ways behind the building, sitting at an old picnic table under a tree. Sakaki was going on and on about... something or other, and Nakada- clearly drunk off her ass, with a bottle _in her hand,_ even- was laughing up a storm. Rizzini was the only one to notice her approach, and he instantly panicked and leapt up.

"L-lunch break!" he stammered.

 _"Lunch break,"_ Boss growled. "With no lunch, at four thirty. Without lettin' me know."

"Yeaaaaahah!," Nakada drawled. "S'the, th,e surPRISE luntch!"

"I- I swear, boss, we weren't slacking off-"

"No," she said, cracking her knuckles. "I'm _glad_ you're slackin' off. Doin' _nothing_ looks like it's _better_ than going around screwin' everything up! Hell, I'm just about ready to put you knuckleheads to bed _myself,_ just so you can't get up to any more trouble!"

"Hey, trip, what? Somethin' go pear-shaped all up in the mall-in-progress?" Sakaki asked.

"Wh-what'd we do?" Rizzini asked.

"Mitsaaaaaaakes," Nakada said, draining her bottle.

"Mitsakes- fuck, _mistakes_ is right, idiots! You knocked the damn client out cold because you're drunk and incompetent!"

Rizzini... looked confused. "Wait, what? No, we... that went fine. Is she not okay?"

"NO, she's not okay! She's..."

Um, fuck. What was the issue again? She got bumped, and that messed up the... connectivity? So she was... conscious, but trapped without a body?

"...she's all fucked up! Because, I dunno, you manhandled her core!"

Nakada frowned. "...Nuh-uhhh! We did it! We was, were's, perfrect!"

Sakaki got up. "...You're sayin' Fours is havin' trouble? She was fine when we moved the super-crucial machine thingy, Boss. These two were in top form- core kissed the ground like a butterfly gettin' all up in a flower's business."

The boss rubbed her forehead. "You're sayin'... you didn't bump it, didn't break anything, it all went fine?"

"Y-yeah!" Rizzini said. "It's- we nailed it!"

A long sigh. These two- and Sakaki, probably- wouldn't lie about that. Well, Rizzini might, but not _convincingly-_ and he'd be trying to pin his failure on someone else, not saying it didn't happen. If they made a mistake, the first thing they'd do was come straight to her, which meant... they probably thought they hadn't made a mistake.

"How about Hosoo? Did he tell you it was fine?"

"...Haruto? He wasn't even there, Boss."

...Ugh. So Hosoo had just _assumed_ the problem was caused by Rizzini and Nakada, after he showed up and found her... broken, or whatever. Wasn't part of the main crew, didn't know how she handled trust around here. Fine.

'Course, that raised the question of what _had_ gone wrong, but... eh. Computers. Wasn't her scene- computers broke all the time for totally random reasons. And Hosoo was volunteering to stay as long as he needed to fix it, so...

Yeah, it was probably fine.

* * *

The next hour passed... productively, actually. Pretty surprising, but Rizzini was being more careful, and Nakada's blatant drunkenness somehow didn't affect her coordination. They got the gas hooked up to the basement piping unit, got some temporary stairs set up for second floor access, and gave the plastic sheeting a once-over. No gaps, no holes- good thing, what with the chance of rain tonight. Yutani got a few more beams in position, and the whole thing looked pretty good. It'd been a stressful day, but with some good solid work done, she was able to smooth things over with the crew. (Sakaki was a big help, there.) Wasn't any good to have bad blood with the workers.

Eventually, it was time to call it for the day. Tomorrow, Sunday, they'd do some prep to make it easier for the full crew to get back to work on Monday, and hopefully by then Hosoo would be done repairing To4ko. She checked in on him briefly, before locking up.

"...counting on me?! Fuck- yeah, but-"

Hosoo was on the phone with someone, and turned and froze. "Uh, call you back."

Yayoi frowned. "Who was that?"

"Just my boss," he said. "Told him I'd be staying late, tried to give me a pep talk... it's a pain."

 _His_ boss. Hmph.

"Any progress on Toshiko?"

To4ko- who was lying on the couch- looked up and waved. "Some!"

"She's going in and out," Hosoo said. "Got her awake for now, but I still need to get it stable."

"Right," Yayoi said. "Keep at it. And..." she looked around. Sakaki was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Sakaki?"

"Went back to his hotel," Hosoo said.

"He wanted to stay the night, to keep us company, but... I convinced him I'd be fine," To4ko said.

"...Got it."

That seemed to be pretty much squared away. Rizzini and Yutani had gone home with their keys, and Nakada was in the car.

She headed to the parking lot and climbed into her pickup truck, finding Nakada in the passenger seat, her hair down and in her face.

"M'boss! You, there's, you'r,e yeah," she said, making about as much sense as usual.

"Hang in there," Yayoi said. "It's a five-minute drive. I'll get you to bed soon."

It ended up being a ten-minute drive thanks to traffic, but they made it to the cheap hotel up the road- Uesawa wanted the Shopping District to have lodging nearby, but those plans hadn't come together yet, so sharing a crappy bed and breakfast here would have to do.

Room 204 was... it was just fine. Had what they needed- two beds, a bathroom, little kitchen sorta thing. Nakada fell right into bed, got out her phone, and started drinking herself to sleep, which probably wasn't... healthy, or anything, but the inner workings of Guns were best not contemplated.

After getting her work clothes put away, and taking Nakada's key and putting it in the lockbox, Yayoi flopped into bed and, likewise, took out her phone.

\-- directingKnuckleheads [DK] began pestering doingKnothing [DK] \--  
DK: long day...  
DK: lotta dumb mistakes to fix...  
DK: stuffed shirts hassling me...  
DK: hows things with you?  
DK: Let's see  
DK: First I lay in bed and did nothing  
DK: Then because I couldn't get out of bed without having a heart attack  
DK: I lay in bed and did nothing, some more  
DK: sheesh, sis.  
DK: i been trying to make some contacts to find help, but...  
DK: Work to be done  
DK: I know  
DK: can't really fix things if i don't pay the bills.  
DK: I know, I know  
DK: no, listen.  
DK: i'm gonna make this happen, okay? that's a promise  
DK: What even is a promise  
DK: It's like you say you're gonna do something but you REALLY mean it  
DK: Instead of just regular mean it, like you'd assume from the fact that you said it  
DK: yknow?  
DK: that's a damn good point.  
DK: okay, here's the difference: if i make a promise, and i don't follow through?  
DK: you punch me right in the fucking face as hard as you can.  
DK: Lmao  
DK: got it?  
DK: I mean if you don't follow through then I'm just gonna keep having atrophied noodle arms so I dunno if you're properly threatened by that  
DK: that's also a damn good point.  
DK: then, I'LL punch me in the fucking face as hard as *I* can.  
DK: Holy shit  
DK: Ok that sounds more serious yeah  
DK: I'll take it  
DK: Anyway give me the details on your day so I can be vicariously not-bored  
DK: okay, so...


	2. Twilight? No, Dawn

She hit the brakes just in time, as the car in front took an unexpected left at the intersection. Nakada lurched forward in the passenger seat, jolted awake.

"Whuh?! I'm awake!"

Ignoring her, Yayoi leaned out the window. "HEY! USE YOUR BLINKER, JACKASS! YOU TRYNA KILL US?"

The driver ahead didn't respond, continuing down the road. Yayoi grumbled and kept going straight, down to the Shopping District. Passed an ambulance with a whining siren.

"...Hey, where's my bottles?" Nakada asked, rubbing her head.

"Didn't bring 'em. Why the hell would I bring 'em?" She'd moved a mostly-unconscious Nakada into the car in the morning, not bothering to wake her up. In fact, it was kind of inconvenient that the lurch woke her- meant more time for her to get her bearings and start getting trashed.

"Gah... you want me to work on an empty stomach, boss?"

"There's breakfast burritos," she said, pointing at the breakfast burritos in the cupholder that she'd indeed grabbed at a drive-thru earlier.

"Auuuuuuuuuugh," Nakada moaned, grabbing at one anyway.

A few minutes later- during which time Nakada had somehow materialized a can of lite beer from nowhere- Yayoi and her truck pulled into the so-far-unpaved road towards the site. The dirt road was actually still dusty, despite the forecast of rain. Friggin' meteorologists screwed one up again, looked like. She supposed that's what they got for spending their time at school studying meteors instead of the weather.

...She shoulda got herself a coffee.

The same thought repeated itself as she pulled up to the site, where... well, this early in the morning, the only car there should've been Hosoo's, but instead... god damn. A police cruiser, lights flashing, plus Uesawa's van and Hosoo's beat-up sedan. And... someone graffiti'd a bunch of red X marks all over the plastic sheeting. What in the hell was going on here?

She didn't bother trying to line up the truck in the parking spot- she yanked the wheel to one side and spun into place, parking in seconds and practically jumping out of the car.

"Whoa, boss-" Nakada said, probably with some beer spilled on her, but Yayoi was already stomping over to the door.

"Hey, don't touch that!"

The voice came just as Yayoi was reaching for the doorknob with her key, from a little off to the side. She turned, and saw...

...uh, some Chinese-lookin' lady sticking her head through a long gash in the plastic sheeting.

"Huh?! Whaddaya mean don't touch- who the hell're you?!"

The lady stepped through the gash, and... aw, hell. She was a cop, apparently. Oversized glasses, her hair tied back, but packing heat and flashing a badge. She was carrying some kinda briefcase with wires dangling out of it.

"Yayoi Murasaki, I'm afraid-"

"No, hold your horses, lady! I ain't done nothin' wrong- my operation's totally up to code!"

The cop shook her head. "That's not it. I'm asking you not to touch the door because we haven't checked it for prints yet. Please don't disrupt any evidence."

Yayoi stared. "Evidence? The hell're you lookin' for evidence of? And why's there a rip in-"

Oh, crap- _Sakaki_ of all people was there, barreling through the tear after the cop. He stumbled to his feet, and turned to give her a panicked look. "Boss!"

"Wh- Sakaki, what the hell is goin' on?"

There were tears in his eyes. "Trip, man, this whole- Gav never shoulda left her alone, I messed up, I messed up so bad...!"

"Slow down, Sakaki! Fuckin'- someone explain what's goin' on, here!"

The cop nodded. "Follow me. Through here, please. There's been an attack."

An _attack?_ Hell, it could only have been... Yayoi followed through the torn plastic, followed by Nakada, who'd stumbled her way over from the truck.

"Please refrain from touching anything. We're conducting an investigation," the cop said, gesturing to...

...fucking hell. The site was a wreck- everywhere there were walls, ragged holes had been punched in those walls, and wires spilled out from the wounds. Practically all of Hosoo's work from the past couple days had been undone, and... oh, no. The _client!_

Yayoi ran across the room to To4ko's room, but was stopped by another cop, who held up a hand, gesturing to... a pool of blood on the ground, just outside the room.

"Wh- holy fuck, did- was there a- a murder here?"

"Maybe," the man said. "Too early to say. He was alive when they found him, but he's been hospitalized. Severe blood loss."

"Wh- who?! Hosoo?"

The cop nodded, and Yayoi took a deep breath. Reached for her hard hat, to take it off and put a hand through her hair, but thought better of it, since- after all- this was still a construction site.

...Speaking of which... "Hey, you guys- this might be a crime scene, but it's also a worksite. We got hats by the supply pile over there," she said, pointing.

"Oh- uh, right," the cop said, turning to look at the woman who was apparently in charge. He gestured at the pool of blood he was guarding, and the woman nodded.

"One for me, too," she said. "I'll cover you here."

The cop ran off to distribute hats to the unprotected on the scene, and his boss approached the pool of blood.

"...He should be okay. Emergency response was quick, and with a transfusion... should be able to testify about his assailant when he wakes up," she said.

Yayoi took a breath. That much was good, at least- no one was dead.

...Wait. _Was_ no one dead? "Hey- we have a replicant onsite. Is she, uh, okay? Unharmed?"

The cop pointed to inside To4ko's room. "That's another maybe."

* * *

Inside the room... well, a lot was going on. It was crowded- mainly because Unit 9 Yutani was there, taking up most of the space. And he was holding... To4ko's severed head.

"Steady!" Uesawa said, holding up To4ko's body. A third cop was there, helping him hold her up.

"I'm always steady," Yutani said. Very carefully, he placed To4ko's head on her neck stump, and adjusted some metal supports with another hand. With a _click,_ To4ko's head snapped back into the socket.

"Okay, hold her!" Uesawa said, and the cop took her entire weight. Uesawa grabbed what looked like a neck brace off the couch, and tightened it around her neck. Slowly, he pulled his hands away, and it stayed in place.

"That should be good," Yutani muttered, reaching a hand over to the core- which, cripes, was itself messed up pretty good. He hit a toggle, and... To4ko's body straightened up, a jerking motion that threatened to dislodge her head. Uesawa held her steady, and a moment later, her eyes switched on.

"...am I?!" she said, startled.

...Aw, shit, she was looking straight at her. Meant she had to be the one to respond.

"You're fine," Yayoi said, not really knowing whether she was fine. "Listen, Toshiko- I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, okay? I dunno what's goin' on here, but this is _my_ site, and no one fucks with my site and gets away with it!" That was reassuring, right? Probably. She wasn't great at that stuff.

"I... can't," the replicant girl said. "Can't... remember."

Yayoi quirked an eyebrow. "Can't remember what?"

To4ko shuddered, and gasped out... "Anything. Anything before... nothing's right. It's all... there's so many holes... I barely... I'm barely..."

Uesawa held her a little tighter. "It's okay, miss. We're going to make sure you get help, okay? And we're gonna find who did this to you."

Yayoi nodded. "Yeah. So- is that it? No one else hurt? I'm not missin' another room fulla bodies or anything?"

The cop gave her a nod. "You've heard about Haruto Hosoo?"

"Yeah, yeah," Yayoi said. She adjusted her hard hat. "Lemme get this straight: someone broke in here, fuckin'... _stabbed_ Hosoo or some shit, and, what, went and cut off the client's god damn head?!"

"Hit her all over, too," Yutani said. "Distributed memory. Damage to the building."

"Right, yeah, so- I dunno in what order, but they stabbed the hell outta Hosoo and Toshiko, plus- fuckin' _decapitated_ her, holy shit... and then what, disappeared?"

"That's as much as we know right now," a voice from behind said. It was that cop lady, the Chinese one.

"So you don't have the perp yet?" Yayoi asked.

The woman shook her head. "Not yet. My name is Aya Wu- Chief Technical Detective, Oborozuka 3rd Precinct. I'm in charge of this investigation."

She held out a hand. Yayoi took it, and shook. Hard.

"You already knew it, but the name's Yayoi Murasaki. What you don't know, though? I'll tell you right now: you can call me Boss, because _I'm_ in charge of this investigation. Got it?"

Wu frowned. "...I'm afraid that's not-"

"You got no reason to be afraid! This here's my site- I'm the foreman around here, and that means when there's work to be done, I'm the one who gets it done. And when someone fucks things up, it means _I'm_ the one who'll take 'em to task!"

Wu sighed. "That's... no, legally speaking, this case is in my jurisdiction-"

"Jurisdiction schmurisdiction, lady-"

"-but if you'd like to lend... _administrative assistance,_ I can allow for that."

The boss grinned. "Great. Yutani! Come with-" ...wait a minute. How'd Yutani gotten in here? There was only the one door, too small for him to fit through. "...me? Hang on, how the hell-"

He reached out a hand and shoved a section of wall framing aside. "Gonna have to redo the nails there," he said.

Boss pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Fine. Where's Rizzini?"

"Still asleep, I think. Sakaki called 'im, he didn't wake up."

...Right, Sakaki. What was _he_ doing here?

"Right, fine. Wu, you already question Sakaki?"

"...he was first on the scene, so of course I've already _attempted_ to question Sakaki. However... getting a coherent witness statement from him is, um..."

Boss nodded knowingly. "Gotcha. Howsabout I take a crack at pickin' that kid's brain? Translate for you, best I can?"

Wu tilted her head. "...I guess it'd be an _improvement,_ at least."

* * *

They found Gavin sitting on a stack of pallets a ways away. Guy actually had his mouth shut, and wasn't sitting next to anyone, which felt... _wrong,_ somehow. She'd never seen him like this.

"Hey! Sakaki! Got some questions for you!"

That got his attention- but he sure didn't look happy. Sakaki's face was streaked with tears.

"I- trip... sorry, Boss, it's like... what if she's skipped this coil, right? Gav can't even think, alla mondo grief-type doubts gettin' in the way of all the thoughts that get stuff done..."

Skipped this... oh, that was some Shakespeare shit or something. He was worried To4ko was dead?

"Chin the fuck up, Sakaki! Yutani and Uesawa got her runnin' again! She's a little out of it, but she'll be fine!"

Now _that_ lit him up like a firework. "Dude! Aw, trip, s'like- you ain't even got any idea how messed up it was in Gav's feels! Fours is alright?"

He jumped down off the pallet, and made a beeline for To4ko's room- where Yutani was extracting himself via the wall. He didn't make it more than a few steps before clotheslining himself on Boss's arm, though.

"Slow down, buddy. Uesawa's lookin' after her for now- what you gotta do _now_ is pitch in on figuring out what happened."

Sakaki looked confused. "...Didn't the fuzz already listen up about that noise?"

"An attempt was made," Wu said, deadpan.

"Trip, man, my bad... guess it was hard for y'all to hear with the sobbin' and what all..."

"That's not-"

"Yeah, that's probably what it was," Boss cut in. "Let's get it again."

"Righteous," Gavin said.

* * *

**GAVIN SAKAKI'S TESTIMONY**

"Trip, so, I was gettin' some shuteye on Fours' insistence, y'know how it is? Swear I coulda pulled an all-nighter, and it looks like I shoulda- because last night, crack of dawn, phone goes off. I keep the vol up on max, so's in case a bud needs help, the Sandman ain't gonna get in the way. There's a text, it's from Fours- and, here, lemme have you get a peep at it:

05:31 - Fours: Gavin, please help! Someone's here- they got Haruto!   
05:32 - Gav: trip, fours, u srs?!?   
05:32 - Fours: I'm scared out of my mind   
05:32 - Fours: Please call the police!

"Now, that's all it took- and Gav wasn't about to waste any time. I didn't know how long it'd take the cops to shake the sleeps, so I got right up, called a ride. Knew a guy in the area- y'all know Nishikiyama? Demon behind the wheel, f'real, and he runs an all-night high-speed cab, so- he's there before I'm even downstairs, and we's off like a shot. He drops me off at Uesawa's strip, and the whole time I'm makin' calls left and right. S'the cops first, then Uesawa, then- I got Niner's number- haha, the other number, you get it- so I call him up, case Gav's magic don't work and whoever's messin' with Fours needs muscle to handle. Lotta peeps on their way.

"Now I get there, all alone, and the place is locked up tight. Three doors, all of 'em locked like Knox, but I'm not gettin' any response from Fours and I'm startin' to get my bean freaked. So Gav circles the building, and there ain't any way in- all that sheeting around the whole sitch. Now- was worried maybe I was too late, and hey hey- Gav's gut knows its stuff- 'cause I _was_ too late, even if I didn't know it. Figured, that plastic's cheap, and most of it ain't got walls behind it. So I take this screwdriver here, and- swoosh, open up that tear in the plastic over there. Presto, one unlocked door, Sakaki-style!

"So- I get in, but there's no sign of anyone, place is totally vacatified. Leastways no one on their feet- 'cause it's right then that Gav sees Patches on the floor, bleedin' out his neck. Couple holes in him, like- trip, just like a vampire bite, man- and I call 119, get an ambulance down there... I look 'im over, make sure he's like rain, but _trip,_ he ain't like rain, and then I remember Fours and I go in to check on her... trip, god, find her headless... then Gav puts two and two together on all the holes in the wall, and- that's 'bout when I totally lose it. Cops and Niner show a few mins later, find me cryin' up a storm...

"And, uh... trip, I was cryin' pretty hard, but I wasn't one hundo percent incognizant of my immediate digs, y'know? 'Sides Fours' room, there's just those three locked doors... and y'all ain't got walls up most of the place, so I had a view all 'round. Not impossible that I missed someone bein' real sneaky, but... Gav don't think anyone used any of 'em, and he _defs_ didn't see anyone else use the egress he whipped up. Seems like whoever it was bounced 'fore I got here, even with Nishikiyama takin' me there at top speed."

* * *

Boss folded her arms. "Huh. Doesn't look great for you, Sakaki."

"Hey, what? I ain't the one who got ventilated!"

...He didn't get it. "I mean... all the doors were locked, yeah? The only way in was that hole you made, and you say no one used it."

Sakaki thought for a second. "...Hey, hold up! You're sayin' Gav's a suspect?!"

"She's right," Wu spoke up. "Your testimony implies that either the culprit was able to lock up afterwards, or... well, that's it. Unless it's you."

Sakaki looked perplexed. "...Trip, dawg, me? I ain't even considered that, but I guess that's a notion you gotta entertain 'til it's good and entertained, yeah?"

"I understand you were close to one of the victims?" Wu asked. "Possible motive, there..."

"Trip, close? You know who you're talkin' to, Yeah-yeah?"

Boss frowned. "I _said_ don't call me-"

"Naw, naw, Gav's just reusin' it. Detective, uh, trip, I actually forget, but her name sounded the same..."

Wu apparently missed that "Yeah-yeah" was even meant to refer to her, what with her lack of ability to comprehend Gavin-ese, and pressed forward. "Most women who become assault victims become such at the hands of young men they know. Statistically-"

Sakaki actually looked a little _upset_ at that. "Yeah-yeah, if you're gonna try and flip things around all crazy so's carin' about my friend makes me spish, you 'n me're gonna have a hard time becomin' buds."

"Regardless-"

"Hey, now." Boss tapped her foot impatiently. "Quit wastin' time. There's actual evidence to look at first, right? I get a good feelin' about Sakaki, and either way it don't make sense."

"Sense, Murasaki-san?"

"It's Boss. And look at it- he gets that text from before he got there, sayin' they're bein' attacked, right?"

"He could've simply used the victim's phone to send those messages to himself, to establish an alibi."

"Wh- that's some sneaky shit, but fine. Not the main point. Point is- he's tellin' us he didn't see anyone flee the scene, and all the doors are locked. If he was the perp, you'd think his story would have, like... 'trip, dog, I saw a shadowy figure goin' out the door', or somethin'. He'd unlock the doors, right? He wouldn't up and incriminate himself for no reason."

"Perhaps he _couldn't_ unlock the doors. He doesn't have a key, does he?"

...Aya Wu was getting annoying. "Yeah, but Hosoo did, and he coulda just taken it off him."

"Perhaps he's a simpleton, or simply didn't know about Hosoo's key, and this didn't occur to him."

"H-hey, hold on-" Sakaki started.

"Okay, back off, Wu. You wanna keep thinkin' of complicated fuckin' plans Sakaki came up with, or you wanna call 'im an idiot? Make up your damn mind!"

Wu glared. "...Fine. If you don't want to consider Sakaki a suspect-"

"I didn't _say_ that-"

"-then let's consider the _other_ suspects. If Sakaki is telling the truth, then the crime could've been committed by anyone with a key. Who had keys, Yayoi Murasaki?"

Boss thought, biting back some retort that'd only piss off the detective more. "...Five people, right now. That's me and my crew, plus Hosoo."

"Your crew?"

"Right now, s'Rizzini, Nakada, and Yutani. None of 'em are killers. Rizzini's probably still asleep, Yutani's right over there, and Nakada..."

She looked around, and sure enough saw Nakada in a corner, downing a bottle. There were no liquor stores close enough for her to have run over there- she must've hid a stash somewhere on-site.

"...well, I doubt Nakada's sober enough to try and kill anyone. Plus, she and I're stayin' together downtown, so we both got alibis for the night."

"Unless you're accomplices," Wu said.

"Fuckin'- yeah, unless we're accomplices. Way to be thorough, Sherlock."

"So there's you four to investigate... and possibly the victim himself, if his injury was somehow accidental."

Boss chuckled. "Hosoo? The guy's the one who's settin' all this up. If he wanted to sabotage Toshiko, he's got way more subtle ways to do it. We wouldn't even know it was him 'til the place started fallin' apart around us."

"...That's one more suspect, then. The other victim, White Sky Toshiko."

Boss stared. Was this lady _serious?_

"Trip, man, you're gonna try and pin this on _Fours?_ Is that even possible?"

"That's yet to be deter-"

"You're outta your mind, Wu. The damage is all over the building- there's no way she woulda been able to stab herself half to death and stay standin' to finish the other half!"

"She may have been aware of which pieces of her construction were non-vital, and inflicted purely cosmetic damage on herself."

"That's- is that some kinda fuckin' joke? You wanna go to town on yourself with a knife, 'cause you think you're pretty sure how to stab yourself in non-vital areas? 'Cause you're a goddamn surgeon? Gimme a break, Wu!"

Wu took a deep breath. "Your... refusal to thoroughly consider all angles of the situation... is creating points of conflict between us. I suggest we go directly to the witness for testimony, in order to dispel this uncertainty."

Oh, _her_ refusal to consider all the angles, huh? Gonna pin the fact that she's bein a jackass on _her?_ Good fuckin' grief, this lady. Boss took a deep breath, steeling herself against the detective's uppity goddamn attitude.

"You're gonna ask Toshiko, then? She's feelin' pretty out of it. Might not have the clearest testimony right now, what with havin' been stabbed in the brain like a hundred times."

Wu shook her head. "I'm not going to _ask_ her anything. I'm going to _check."_  

* * *

Boss's footsteps followed after Wu's. "You can't be fuckin' serious! That Ridiculous Evidence Act?!"

_"_ _Reliable_ Evidence Act. Under mimeopolygraph, it's impossible for her to lie or even _deceive_ us about what she saw. She tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"Trip, Yeah-yeah, ain't that goin' a little far? You really wanna do this?"

"I don't just _want_ to do it- I'm _legally obligated_ to do it."

The three of them entered To4ko's room, where To4ko was reclining on her couch. Unit 9 had decided against leaving the room for now, and was poking about her neck with some of his smaller hands, conducting some sort of repairs. Uesawa was sitting on the arm of the couch next to her, holding her hand.

"Ah... Murasaki-san?" Shit. She let _To4ko_ call her that, and Wu would get offended by the double standard...

"Boss. Anyway- I can't do anythin' about it, but, uh... y'know the REA?"

To4ko looked confused. "The... Replicant Employment Act?"

"Wh- no, the other one." Why the hell did they have the same damn acronym? If there was anything else by the letters REA involved, the situation would be a _real_ god damn mess. "The... Reliable Evidence Act. Cops're gonna read your mind."

Uesawa frowned. "That's...! That's a violation of her rights!"

"It literally isn't," Wu said. "Please don't try to tell the police how laws work, sir."

He stood up. "No, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to object. I'm not above a little civil disobedience to help out a-"

To4ko pulled on his hand. "No, Uesawa-san. I'll... I absolutely consent to this procedure. I _need_ to know who hurt Haruto, and... if I can help in any way, I want to."

Uesawa took a deep breath, and sat back down. "Alright, then. Your call."

Wu smiled, and opened that briefcase of hers. Inside was a tangle of wires and electrodes, all hooked up to a readout and keyboard in the briefcase. She sat down on the couch, repositioning To4ko to make some room, and started wiring To4ko into the system.

The screen turned on, a line graph drawing itself across the top. "Alright. To guide the inspection, we'll need your testimony about the event."

To4ko nodded.

"What happened last night..."

\-- directingKnuckleheads [DK] began pestering doingKnothing [DK] \--   
DK: you're not gonna believe this, sis.   
DK: i know you're prolly asleep right now, but this'll be fun to wake up to   
DK: No, I'm awake   
DK: seriously? at this hour??? put the damn phone down and get some shut-eye!   
DK: Oh you think I have a sleep schedule   
DK: That's cute   
DK: Fun fact: when you have nothing to do but lie in bed, sleeping happens way more than normal   
DK: bullshit!   
DK: you were on the phone with me last night, so there's no way you got more sleep than i did!   
DK: That was when you woke me up after six hours of sleep   
DK: And then I went right back to sleep for another seven hours   
DK: I'm like a millionaire but for sleep   
DK: jeez, miki, i'm p sure you're bullshittin me still but   
DK: oof.   
DK: Anyway what's so unbelievable   
DK: fuck, where do i start?   
DK: i get into work and the client's been decapitated.   
DK: Oh, THIS is going to be a good story.   
DK: it's a story where the client's been decapitated and another guy's been stabbed in the neck.   
DK: and there's cops all over the place and   
DK: oh yeah someone vandalized the site with fuckin spray paint, that's fun.   
DK: Is the twist gonna be that you killed them   
DK: They piss you off?   
DK: nah no one's dead.   
DK: stabbed neck guy's in the hospital, is all.   
DK: Oh I GOTTA know how this other guy survived being decapitated   
DK: she's a replicant.   
DK: Oh   
DK: Duh   
DK: and speakin of which, the cops are about to read her mind.   
DK: so i'll keep you posted on... that.


	3. Fours' Minutes Before Death

"What happened last night..."

[timestamp - 17:36]

The sound of Yayoi's truck fades into the distance, leaving the two of them alone. It is a sure thing- as far as they can tell, they are the only two people in or around the building.

Let's briefly describe the state of the room at the time. The floor is unfinished sheet rock, with a round throw rug in the center. Only two walls are properly set with drywall- and to orient ourselves, let's imagine we've entered the room from its single entrance, the one across from the building's main door. That means the far wall, and the wall on our left- those are finished walls, solid, opaque, without gaps. The other two walls- the one that contains the doorway (devoid of door) and the wall to our right- they are simply wooden frames with studs every 16 inches. Some of To4ko's wiring is already hooked up to the frames, tied and stapled to the studs. These frames, however, are covered by two layers of plastic sheeting- one on the inside, one on the outside, stapled to the wood. The plastic sheeting is translucent, and so can be seen through to some extent- colors and shapes are visible, though quite blurry, through the layers of sheeting.

Inside this room is a handful of objects. The far wall, finished, has a large space heater plugged into an outlet. This space heater is switched on, providing heat and a dim orange light to the room. In front of the space heater is a tall standing mirror, oriented towards the doorway. Facing the mirror and space heater is a couch, on which our viewpoint camera lies. We can see that the camera is the view of one White Sky To4ko, a building management replicant. Standing in front of the couch, tinkering with a two-meter tall, cylindrical, hard-to-understand scientific device, is Haruto Hosoo, the install technician sent by White Sky. His tools- a pen flashlight, and some boxes full of electrical equipment- are strewn haphazardly about the room. On the left wall, a first-aid kit hangs, required to be there by construction laws of some sort.

I do believe we now have enough context to understand the physical reality of the scene before us. Let's continue.

"What I'm thinking is... it's got to be one of the transmitters. Right? You keep going in and out, so..."

"No, no... when I'm out, I lose time, too, I don't get any diagnostic feeds. Remember?"

"Right, right. Fuck, so it's gotta be...?"

Hosoo levers off a panel on the core, and takes a look at an exposed array of LEDs and gauges. The point of this action is, of course, to discover certain information about the state of her processor. That is his job, and he is doing it. Everything's fine, there. He peers closely at some of the green ones, and then flips a nearby switch. Our vision goes wobbly for a moment, indicating abnormal function, and-

[timestamp - 17:46]

"-Toshiko? Earth to Toshiko?" Hosoo's face fills her vision, and by proxy, ours.

"I- now," she responds. "Right there."

He frowns. "Careful," he says, poking at an exposed control panel in her face. "You're not making sense."

"O-oh! Sorry, I... language processor took... some time to come online," she says.

Hosoo sighs. "So you were sleepy and mumbling nonsense. Fine." He pokes something in her face that makes her vision tint blue a little. "Look- I think I have something figured out, here. Let me take a look at-"

[timestamp - 18:36]

"-Dammit. Okay, how about..."

...Well. The footage continues in this manner for several hours, and nothing particularly suspicious occurs. Our perspective is blacked out for a substantial portion of this time, but not all- about an hour of footage is intact, consisting largely of unremarkable maintenance work and awkward small talk. Our operator elects to skip past most of it, until a point our viewpoint tells her is where something suspicious occurred.

[timestamp - 23:10]

Following several minutes of additional small talk, a knock sounds from behind the couch. It would be the door- a knock, at the door. Which would imply that someone is knocking on the door, asking to be let in. What implications that has! Very few people have reason to be inside this unfinished building- at least, very few people who would not already have keys, and wouldn't need to knock. Let's take a moment to acknowledge the note of unease this simple confusion sounds.

We see Haruto put his tools down and leave the room. What we can see outside this room, from here, is an unobstructed path to the locked door to the building, lit by a single floodlamp hanging from the second floor. The walls around this door have been partially constructed, and so block any attempt to view the door's immediate exterior from inside. The door has only one peephole- the keyhole, which Haruto declines to check. Rather, he approaches the door, and calls out.

"Hey, who's there?"

There is no answer. Chilling, correct? Someone wishes entry into the building, but has neither a key, nor an identity they believe will induce the occupants into inviting them inside. They respond with only silence, paradoxically. They would like to be let in, but signal this only with a knock, not any sort of request or explanation of their presence. Surely, the door is locked for a reason- did they imagine perhaps the occupant would open it to see who had knocked? The culprit has no such luck.

"I said who's there?" Haruto repeats.

Haruto is answered this time by another knock. Now we become more worried, don't we? Someone has knocked, a question has been asked of them- repeatedly!- and been ignored. And now, a second knock. Fear and suspicion mount.

Haruto has no patience for this. He is a technician, a man of science- that is, a man who understands the workings of hard-to-understand scientific devices. There's a pride in him, for this reason, a pride that recoils from the idea of showing fear to a mere bump in the night.

"Look, whoever you are- it's the middle of the night. Go home!"

Another knock.

"Gah... buzz off! If you want in, come back tomorrow!"

Oh, what tragic wording this poor man has employed. Go home! If you want in, come back tomorrow! _Permission_ is implied by this phrasing, dear Hosoo! Events to follow are quite predictable, in light of this clear mistake.

Incognizant of the fate he has invited, Haruto Hosoo returns to the room where our viewpoint sits. She has been watching him by the door, over the back of the couch. "Who was that?" she asks, and is met of course by a grumbling confession of ignorance on the matter. He doesn't know. He says "probably just a tree branch in the wind", choosing to ignore the fact that the treeline is nearly a dozen meters away from the building.

More maintenance- and almost five hours of sleep on Haruto's part- transpires. It is largely fast-forwarded through, the footage unremarkable. At 04:48, the two awake again- To4ko first- and Hosoo bangs his head against the intractable problem of the blackouts for another nine minutes.

[timestamp - 04:57]

Ah, it's at this time that the lights go out. It's hardly important to ask why- any common criminal could cut power to the building, at a time when the power supply is exposed and unfinished. A trivial step. Regardless, Haruto and To4ko are startled by this development. To4ko herself has an internal power supply, and remains conscious, running on battery- which is why she is able to get up and check the space heater to see what has gone wrong. She confirms that it is inoperable, and Haruto attempts to plug his phone into the wall socket to see if it's a power issue or a failure with the heater itself. As they may have guessed by the outside floodlamp's similar state of inoperability (were they not shaking off sleep and not thinking as clearly as possible), the power is out. They have used two minutes in this way.

Then a hissing noise is heard. It is no snake- though perhaps snakes lurk nearby, to make the situation even more sinister. They turn and look to the source of the sound, and... To4ko is able to see it, as her vision is not as impaired by low light as poor human Haruto's is. She sees what is making its way through the keyhole of the door.

"There's a cloud of mist," she says. "It's- it's coming through the door!"

"Shit!" Haruto says. "It's- shit, this could be a gas attack or something!"

"A gas attack?!"

"I don't know who, but- well, you'll be fine, oh shit, Toshi- I'm gonna go get, the construction people have some of those dust mask things with some of those supplies in the corner, maybe it'll help-"

To4ko then says "I'm scared," and Haruto walks towards the door, and- a blackout, brief, mere seconds. When she comes to, Haruto is a handful of steps closer to the door, and the clock- a timestamp in the corner of her vision- has not advanced.

[timestamp - 05:02]

However- the mist has thinned. The hissing has stopped. And as she sees Haruto cross the threshold of the doorway- a shadow moves outside the room. It moves from the corner where the two unfinished walls meet, towards the doorway. She can see that shadow through the plastic sheeting, and then before she can scream a warning she can see an arm reach out and _grab_ Haruto by the arm, and- well, there's that scream, an instant too late. Haruto has been pulled aside, out of the doorway, behind the plastic, and he's screaming. He's screaming and the shadow is on top of him, and-

Our view breaks from its horrified stare as our gracious host To4ko attempts to get up to help him. There are panels on her body to close, limbs disabled for testing, motor subroutines to boot up- she wasn't prepared to move, and so this costs her precious seconds.

But she's on her feet- and without any hesitation, those feet carry her to the doorway, intent on rescuing Haruto. She brings no weapon, nothing in hand- grabbing something would simply slow her down, and she's wasted enough time already. She's through the doorway, and turns-

And to her left, just by the door, she sees a black cloak spread wide, its wearer not visible beneath it and its high collar. The only thing that pokes out from beneath the cloak are a pair of shoes- _Haruto's shoes-_ and she rears back to deliver a _kick_ with all of her might.

The kick does not connect, because before she can drive her leg forward, something shoots out from beneath the cloak. A blade- a wicked thing, curved and jagged at once, a _sword_ of demonic make- shoots out to the figure's left. It buries itself not in To4ko, but- well, no, it _does_ bury itself in To4ko. Not in her body, but in the wall nearby, directly into a black box tied to a stud behind the sheeting. It sparks, and-

[timestamp - 05:22]

It's twenty minutes later when the "connectivity error"- she was just _stabbed,_ perhaps that's what it was this time- resolves itself, and she finds herself standing in exactly the place she was standing when it began. Only- things are different, now. The cloaked figure is gone, the lights are back on, and- oh, no. No, no, no- what she is looking at now is not a hunched-over figure in a cloak. No, what she is looking at right now is _Haruto._

Haruto Hosoo is lying in a pool of blood right before her eyes. She sees two small holes in his neck from which blood trails- evidently the source of the _pool of blood oh god he's lying in a pool of blood._ He's not moving- but her hand goes to his wrist, and there's a pulse, he's breathing, so there's still time.

There's time for her to walk into her room. She stumbles, disoriented, so slow it's like she's barely moving at all- and the cause of her disorientation is clear on the periphery of her vision, though it's not her focus at the moment. Holes, punched into the walls all over. That wicked blade has danced around the building, carving To4ko to bits. She barely registers it as she stumbles into her room, intent on reaching the first aid kit. She's looking to the left wall, taking no notice of anything else in the room.

And then there is a voice, at timestamp 05:26.

"Oh, dear. You're moving again, are you?"

She freezes. The voice is indeterminate, distorted, deep and dark and evil. And it's right behind her.

"I'm afraid that doesn't work for me. I can't have any witnesses, see."

She turns- she turns, and sees the figure in the doorway. Dark, illuminated only from behind by the floodlamp, as the space heater has yet to warm up to provide its glow. She can see the figure is cloaked in black, tall, _maybe_ wearing a mask- why can't she see its features? There should be some light in the room- a reflection of the light outside, at least! No... is the stranger's shadow blocking the light to the mirror? The mirror-

She turns to look at the mirror. She's been moving slowly, but turning her head is fast, lightning-fast, and what she sees in the mirror... is herself. And she is not large, she's small, petite, built to be nonthreatening. She does not block her own view of the doorway, and yet she does not see that shadowy figure behind her.

And she turns back, lightning-fast, and sees- that shadowy figure. Standing in the doorway, unmoving.

It would appear that the figure does not have a reflection. A figure who bit into Haruto's neck, spilling blood all over the floor, who needed permission to enter, who entered the building as a mist, who has no reflection? Need I spell it out further?

"Kakaka... surprised? Don't worry- you needn't concern yourself with surprises any longer- nor anything else," the vampire said. 

And then, before To4ko could move, the vampire drew that demonic blade from its cloak, and- it rushed forward with blinding speed, swinging the blade in a graceful arc.

That graceful arc intersected the graceful arc of To4ko's neck, and her head fell to the ground.

You might wonder, then, why the memory continues- because To4ko is no more human than the vampire who just decapitated her, and her eyes manage to see and transmit the last few moments before consciousness. 05:28 is early in the morning, but- have you not been informed? This story takes place in midsummer, and the sun makes its arrival early. 

Furthermore... you may recall that this building is a construction site in progress. It has no roof- merely a tentpole over which is draped protective plastic sheeting. Sheeting through which daylight may shine.

"Wh- no! Curse you, Ra! I was so close to- aaaAAAAAGH!"

We see, through eyes closing and dimming, the vampire begin to smoke, vapor rising from its form with a hissing sound. We see it make its way towards the door, and we see it engulfed in mist before- at 05:29- the memory ends.

* * *

"...There's no way any of that's as true as it has to be," Wu said.

To4ko'd just finished spinning her story, with an accompanying... video feed was the wrong word. According to To4ko, it was "raw sensory input", which was apparently a different thing from video, on account of something something image processing optics whatever. What that meant was that the whole thing looked like it'd been run through an Escher painting, and sounded like an underwater Youtube Poop. (Miki had explained YTP to her, but it still didn't make any fuckin' sense. Which was the point? The fuck's the point of not makin' sense?)

Which was why Wu was there, twisting knobs and asking To4ko to repeat stuff- taking that mess of a memory and turning it into something watchable, and checking to make sure there was no attempted deception. Apparently there'd been some private discussion between To4ko and Hosoo during those fast-forwarded maintenance parts, which she didn't want to elaborate on- but apart from that, it was all green, and Wu didn't detect any misdirection in her desire not to go into detail. Probably meant... Hosoo was all up in her body, trying to fix it, so odds were the stuff she didn't want to mention was just embarrassing.

Boss scowled. "Make up your mind, Wu! You're personally checkin' to see if she's tellin' the truth, right?"

 _"Right,"_ Wu said. "And... it looks fine! Except it can't be! It... doesn't make sense!"

...she had to admit, Wu had a point. The memory... it looked pretty clear, 'cept for how it was totally impossible. Looked like it showed, no bones about it: To4ko and Hosoo got attacked by a _vampire._ Everyone had gathered around, and everyone seemed pretty weirded out by the whole thing. Yutani, Nakada, Uesawa, and...

Sakaki peered at the screen. "...Trip, Fours. I guess this proves it, huh? Vampires is a real deal kinda thing!"

"I... does it? There... I know what I saw, but... it could've just been a person in a costume, right? A person did this?"

Sakaki looked lost in thought. "Man, I know I know a guy who knows a guy who knows, like, some kinda hotshot ghost hunter type somewhere. Name's slippin' through my tongue, though... maybe we get her up here?"

 _"Absolutely not,_ on both counts," a voice said from behind them. Boss didn't recognize it, but... something about that voice commanded attention.

She turned around, and saw- stepping through the doorway to To4ko's room- some kinda total weirdo.

She was wearing, what, one of those fancy dresses that was also a coat sorta thing? And, like... whatever that ruffly fuckin' neck thing is called, like a scarf except it's all a bunch of frilly layers in front? Plus some kinda poofy pink hat- and a mask.

It was one of those, uh, whatever they're called, theater masks? Like how there's a happy mask and a sad mask and they symbolize people putting on plays or some shit? Except it was like, a neutral one of those. Plus gloves, and a white headscarf that hid her hair and stuff. All together, she couldn't see an inch of this lady's skin that wasn't totally covered up and hidden.

"...hey! Who the fuck're you supposed to be?" Boss shouted.

"Oh, uh... no one knows her name, actually," Uesawa supplied.

Boss whipped around. "You know this bozo?"

"Not... exactly. She lives up the hill, comes down to the shopping center sometimes... always in that disguise, never gives a name. Familiar, uh, 'face', but..."

"Dearest Uesawa-san!" the girl said, sounding hurt. "Don't tell me you don't remember my name!"

Yayoi put her face in her hand. "I'm gonna ask again: who the fuck're you supposed to be?"

The masked girl twirled into the room- god, she _twirled,_ seriously?- and curtsied, fuck, with the more curtsying. "I am- and Uesawa-san, I was not evading the question before, I was indeed giving you a name to call me by..."

...And now, dear reader, I'm afraid I must pull back the curtain somewhat. I have done my best to tell this tale from the perspective of Yayoi Murasaki, the hero of the story. Now, my narration has endeavored to reflect her thoughts and imitate her unique- if coarse- style of expression, and will continue to do so in the future. However in a case of inexpressible tragedy, she is not the one from whom the account of these events is sourced, as she was unavailable for interview. Her "telling" of these events is reconstructed from my own understanding of her, and is as such necessarily to some extent fictionalized.

No- the true teller of this tale... is about to be named.

"...and that name is simply... Unidentified Girl X!"

DK: so y'know.  
DK: vampires, maybe. *that's* pretty weird.  
DK: No kidding  
DK: uh hang on.  
DK: hold that thought.  
Dk: some weirdo just showed up??


	4. In Which Our Hero Accepts A Demolitions Contract

"...Bullshit," Yayoi said. "That ain't a name, dammit! You sayin' we don't know what your name is doesn't count!"

The girl laughed, a charming "Ka ka ka!" which Yayoi stubbornly refused to believe was charming. "Murasaki-san, please! You look at my immaculately-prepared mask, and you ask me to simply give you a name? When it is _abundantly_ clear that I go to pains to conceal my identity?"

"I don't give a damn," Yayoi said. "What am I supposed to fuckin' call you then, just..."

"Unidentified Girl X!"

Yayoi shook her head. "Hell no. That's too many syllables."

Unidentified Girl X huffed. "Girl X, then, if you're intimidated by elementary-school vocabulary."

"Yeah, I'm just gonna say X. The hell're you doin' here, X?"

That mask didn't betray any expression, but Yayoi was sure she was _smirking_ under there. "Such a question will always have the same answer... I am here at the behest of my mistress. If you have any future question as to my motives, please refer to this answer."

Uesawa held up a finger. "Ah- that's, yeah, she's... always down here getting groceries or whatever for... what's her name, Edelweiss?"

"Who?"

He hesitated. "Uh... I think she's her grandma, or something? Never met the lady, but... well, the girl says she's-"

A loud and piercing laugh cut through Uesawa's words. "Dearest Uesawa-san, I speak for Countess Rachel Edelweiss, Eternal Mistress of the Earthshattering Typhoon and Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew, Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy!"

The speaking of the name struck silence into the hearts of the listening audience, who could not comprehend the majesty to which it referred. After all, it was only her servant present- surely, were they to stand in her presence, trembling would sully their silence.

Yayoi held her head in her hands and took a deep breath. "Okay, so-"

"Trip, there is _no_ way Gav's rememberin' all that, UG. Countess, what, Rachel?"

"Ah- the first name is traditionally omitted, but-"

"I'mo call 'er... Rae-Rae!"

Unidentified Girl X flinched. "That's... that's really not-"

Yayoi snapped her fingers a few times, interrupting. "Hey, X! Sakaki! None of that's important, dammit! We're in the middle of a damn investigation here!"

X laughed. "Ah... are you? From where I'm standing, the investigation is well and truly over. Do you disbelieve your eyes? This has quite conclusively been proven the work of my mistress!"

...What was that? Yayoi narrowed her eyes.

Uesawa waved his hands. "Ahaha- no, no, hey. X, don't get crazy, here-"

"You know the perpetrator?" Wu asked. One of the cops was in the room, too, and his hand drifted a bit closer to his holster.

"I have given you her name!" X declared. "Countess Edelweiss! Ruler of Oborozuka's night! It is upon the folk of this fair burg that she feeds, and over them that she reigns!"

Yayoi groaned. "Aw- no, you're not tryna tell me it was _actually_ a fuckin _vam-"_

"She's a local urban legend," Uesawa interrupted. "People around here tread careful around the Oborozuka Vampire, mostly as a joke. The perpetrator probably dressed this up to look like her, so..."

X tut-tutted. "Dearest Uesawa-san, please! A joke? My mistress is most undeniably real, and this footage is incontrovertible proof! Countess Edelweiss walks the shadows of Oborozuka, and now we have perfect testimony from a reliable source that her workings are more than the stuff of legend!"

"So..." Yayoi counted off on her fingers. "We got a culprit who wants to hide their identity, dressed up like a local boogeyman, hopin' to make people think it was... no, hold the damn phone! That doesn't make any sense!"

"I wholeheartedly agree!" the girl said. "This was no impersonation- it was the work of the Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy herself!"

"No, that ain't it, weird mask chick. What I'm sayin' is- there's no way anyone would seriously think it was the vampire, right? Even if it's some kinda local legend, soon as there's actually a crime, people're gonna know it's somethin' a real criminal did. No one's that dumb!"

Gavin tilted his head. "I dunno, Boss. How's it up in your head that it _wasn't_ a vampire? More'n this world than exists than philosophers, y'know?"

Wu shook her head. "No- it's not a vampire, obviously. But... the urban legend does shine a little light on possible motive, at least."

"No- c'mon. Who would expect that to work?" Yayoi asked. "There's no way anyone would be fooled, right?"

Wu hesitated. "...with all due respect, 'Boss', when you're a police detective, you learn that the floor for how stupid criminals can be... gets subterranean. It's not implausible that someone would think the ruse would be effective."

Yayoi sighed. "Then- fine, we gotta figure out the point of the disguise, right?"

There was a sound- and it took everyone a moment to realize it was the stomping of a foot, as the dainty foot that made it was unable to summon the requisite force.

"Are you all willfully blind to the truth, then?" Girl X demanded. "You have the mimeopolygraph testimony of a replicant! Such a thing cannot be falsified! She saw my mistress at work with her own eyes!"

"I- it was dark," To4ko protested. "It could have easily been some kind of disguise... everything was so confusing..."

"Absolutely not!" Girl X shouted. "You pack of fools have unshakeable evidence before you, and yet you deny the force of the truth! Countess Edelweiss is real, and she is the culprit behind this crime!"

Yayoi scoffed. "Get real, kid. I got one hell of a bullshit detector, and it's goin' off like crazy. I'm not gonna roll over and accept that fuckin' _vampires_ exist. Something's gotta be screwy with that footage!"

X was silent for a moment. And then... she sighed. "If you hidebound children of man refuse to acknowledge a truth merely by the force of its established reliability... I am forced to rely on my mistress' power."

"Trip, UG, whaddaya mean by all that?"

From somewhere- distant, faint enough to perhaps be imagination- the sound of an organ played.

Girl X brandished a pointing finger. "From now on... when I speak the truth, I will use red!"

There was no sound of a bell, but it could be heard- and a chill went down the spine of all present. Unidentified Girl X... had spoken aloud in red.

Yayoi's eyes went wide. "The fuck... did you just do?!"

"I spoke the truth in red, Murasaki-san! You can't argue with that, can you?"

She gripped her head. Was... she going fuckin' crazy, or something? No- everyone else, from Yutani to Wu, had been frozen by that same proclamation. Who... the hell... _was_ this girl?

"Allow me to save you from your uncertainty! White Sky Toshiko has not lied to you! Everything in that testimony is something she really experienced! No false memories exist in her testimony!"

"Whoa, whoa, is Gav trippin'? Like, not the usual way? How're you doin' that?"

"You may trust that everything shown in Toshiko's perspective is reliable evidence! For instance... Haruto was indeed there helping her! There really was a knock on the door at 11:10pm! She really did see mist pour through the keyhole! She saw a cloaked figure grab him, and then moved to kick that figure! She really did see Haruto lying in a pool of blood, and afterwards, that cloaked figure indeed followed her to her room! When she looked, she really saw an empty mirror- and then the cloaked figure indeed decapitated her!"

Yayoi made a pair of fists. "Fuckin'... what're you playing at? We know that because of that damn mind-reading machine? That thing could be malfunctioning!"

Girl X shook her head. "The device Aya Wu used to acquire Toshiko's testimony is and has been working entirely as intended, with no malfunctions! Furthermore, the device acts as advertised, with no hidden functionality or unknown limitations! None of which I should need to say- as I have already repeated what it confirmed in red!"

No. No, this didn't make any goddamn sense! This little twig couldn't just waltz in here and start... talking in colors, and claim that meant she was right!

"Ffffffuck this! Cut it out with the red bullshit! I'm supposed to just believe that since you said somethin' in a color, that proves vampires are real? Don't fuck with me, kid!"

More tutting. "Murasaki-san, the game is no fun if you reject its rules. I promise you, the red truth is true. You have no need to worry that I might deceive you with it."

"...Is this supposed to be some kinda joke? You're arguin' in circles, dammit! You can't use your fuckin' red to convince me that I should believe the red!"

Again, the mask betrayed no expression- but it was certain that she was frowning.

"I... suppose you're right. Here, in the world of Humans, the red truth has no power to compel belief. Red needs no evidence, no proof- but those things are necessary to bear any truth through the anti-magic toxin of daylight."

"Heh." Yayoi folded her arms. "Glad you finally got your head screwed on... uh, well, not straight, looks like, but-"

"I suppose this was an inevitability, then..."

...Something was off. It was just her talking to X- only other person who spoke up was Sakaki. Wasn't anyone else gonna call her out on her crap?

She turned around. Sakaki was moving, some, giving Girl X a funny look- and To4ko looked normal, albeit... worried, confused, and too shy to speak up. So, normal, for her. But... everyone else?

They hadn't just been metaphorically frozen by X's words. They _literally_ weren't moving. Yutani was hanging in the air with one foot off the ground. Uesawa and Wu both had their mouths open, as if to say something- but they were still as statues. The cop in the back had been caught mid-blink.

"What... the fuck... is this?"

"Wait, hold the horses, guys, are y'all okay? This is pretty freaky-deaky..."

"I- I don't have a connection, everything's stopped..."

That laugh, that little _ka ka ka,_ sounded- yet now, it echoed in the darkness. The darkness, suddenly. Dammit, had the lights died again? No, stupid- stupid thought, this crazy girl in the mask was doing something bigger than _cutting the power,_ she was doing some kinda messed-up supernatural shit-

"Countess Edelweiss! Eternal Mistress of the Earthshattering Typhoon! Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew! Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy! Ruler of Oborozuka's night! I, your humble vessel, call upon your bottomless power! Rip these children of man from the protective embrace of reality, and visit upon them your unblemished truth!"

The reader is here implored to listen, as accompaniment, to the 21st century classical piece "Birth of a New Witch", composed by Zakuro Motoki.

O

* * *

X

Shit, she was moving. Yayoi didn't hesitate- she had to _do something,_ she couldn't let some creep-o get one step further with her insane plan! She lunged-

-but it was too late. X's movement was quick and subtle- she'd simply removed one lace glove from her hand. A harmless motion, surely? On the back of that hand, a symbol- a sigil, something elaborately written out- was glowing black.

The floor shook, and Yayoi almost lost her footing. It'd take more than an unstable floor to trip her up- she'd had worse back when she was stopping the Yokohama Tower Collapse, last year.

No, what stopped her charge was the need to evaluate her surroundings- because they were changing fast. Everyone who'd frozen was melting into shadow, vanishing. Sakaki had been bowled over by the quake, and To4ko no longer had a couch to recline on- both of them were on the floor. The stone floor, but not the rough gray stone of the foundation. No- it was polished black marble.

The walls gave way, shrinking into nothingness and being replaced with enormous black columns, which seemed to _rotate_ into existence from some higher dimension. On either side, rectangular shapes of dark wood sprung from nothingness- benches? No, _pews._ Pews surrounded by columns, by black marble walls, by purple and red stained glass windows that _twisted_ themselves into being. At the end of the aisle formed by the pews, an enormous golden pipe organ unfolded from empty space.

All of this was accompanied by a defeaning roaring sound, a sound of reality twisting itself into a new shape, straining against some colossal unseen force. And in the middle of it all- Unidentified Girl X, holding her tattooed hand aloft, issuing forth a thick black mist.

"I don't know...!" Yayoi started, staggering to her feet after another rumble, "...what the _fuck_ just happened...! But I ain't takin' this lying down, dammit!"

She lunged again, grabbing for X's hand. She didn't have any idea what she was going to _do_ with it- but there had to be something other than letting it fucking eviscerate reality, or whatever.

Yet... she failed. She was blown away by a rushing of irresistible wind, a pressure that knocked her off her feet and down the aisle, landing on Gavin.

"Yeowch! Boss, I gotchu!"

Shaking her head, she started getting to her feet, but stopped in her tracks when she looked up. The cathedral had stopped shifting, its form complete- and floating in the air above Unidentified Girl X, was...

"Kakakakaka! What have we here, my pet? Have you brought a fresh meal before me?"

She would've been short, if she weren't... scaled up, the proportions of an ordinary woman stretched to eleven feet tall. A towering figure, wearing an elaborate dress of entirely black-on-black-on-black. Or- no, deep purple and deep red and black, shades barely distinguishable on a backdrop of bright red, the velvety interior of an enormous black cape with a collar high enough to frame her whole head. Her long purple locks cascaded down to her waist, framing a pale face wearing a wicked grin. And... two enormous leathery wings, stretched out to either side, slowly beating.

"...Uh, Gav's gonna... just have himself a little inside scream, right now, yeah? On account of that's a real-type vampire right there?"

The vampire's eyes looked him over hungrily- at first. Then, she frowned. "Ah, no good...! This one doesn't offer the bittersweet tang of resistance..."

The sound of work boot meeting marble rang out, a sound more powerful than Girl X's dainty step earlier. The Boss was on her feet.

"Hey! You- I don't know what in any hell you're playin' at, but you don't got any right to do any of it! You have any idea how many days of work you just fuckin'... magicked away to make room for your god damn nightmare church?!"

The hungry eyes of the mistress were not disappointed, this time. "Ah, excellent! Is that a hint of _righteous fury_ I detect? This one's bouquet is promising indeed, my pet."

Girl X remained on the floor, unmoving.

Yayoi looked around for something to _stake_ that thing with. She had old wooden pallets lying around, she could probably splinter one of those to get something workable- but _fuck,_ all those had gone kaput with the rest of the site.

"...Kakakaka! She's looking for a _weapon?_ Goodness me, this may prove entertaining after all."

Yayoi growled. "Shut the fuck up! You think you're untouchable?! Just wait, jackass!"

To4ko tried and failed to struggle to her feet. "Murasaki-san, d-don't antagonize her...!"

"Zip it! I'll antagonize who I want!"

Gavin smiled nervously. "Uh- Boss, you 100% that's a good idea? I mean- we're talkin' about a vampire here..."

The vampire laughed, in a slightly different manner from her usual. "Ohoho, you should listen to your friend, 'Boss'! Do you perhaps not know who you deign to oppose?"

Yayoi looked at her with narrowed eyes. A look of... disbelief. "...You think I'm stupid, or somethin'? You think I ain't payin' attention to the completely fuckin' obvious?"

"Kakakakaka! What am I supposed to assume, from one who so misguidedly believes that to oppose me is possible?"

"Fuck off," she said. Where was her damn hat? Oh, there. She scooped it off the ground and put it back on her head, where it belonged.

"I don't believe I _shall,_ actually-"

"No, you fuck off right here and listen, Edelweiss! You-"

"Oh? You know my name, then?"

"-you total piece'a moron- no _shit_ I know your name! Your little doll girl only said it, like, five fuckin' times! You think just 'cause I'm pissed off at you means I ain't payin' attention?! Who the hell else are you s'posed to be?"

"...Well, I suppose my reputation precedes-"

"No. Stop talking." The boss cracked her knuckles. "Like I said, I'm payin' attention. I heard the bullshit Girl X was spewin' right before she, I dunno, fuckin' _summoned_ you or whatever the hell. Rip us from _reality,_ she said! And that's what you did!"

"...Yes, of course, I'm _quite_ powerful. I hope to make that impression stick, you see-"

 _"D'you know what 'stop talking' means,_ asshole?! I wasn't done!" She took a step towards the Countess.

"I-"

"Son of a bitch, you really _don't_ know what it means! Quit flappin' your jaw for _one god damn second!"_

"..."

"Like I was in the middle of sayin'- none of this is real! It's, I don't fuckin' know, 'ripped from reality', or whatever the fuck- you ain't here! Vampires ain't a thing! You don't _exist,_ capiche?!"

There was a tense silence. And... then, the room darkened, ever so slightly. It was already dark, but- well. The darkness was very swiftly no longer the thing most in need of focusing on.

Countess Edelweiss was larger. So large she didn't fit in the room, clipping through the floor, only her torso visible above it. One hand, tipped with wicked black claws and now the size of Yayoi herself, shot out before she could move, and gripped her in a fist.

Yayoi struggled against the vampire's grip, but- shit!- she couldn't move.

"Tell me, Human. How can you say I don't exist? Toshiko saw what she saw! That footage showed a vampire attack- and I will clear the matter up for you: that was _my_ doing! I deceived Haruto Hosoo into inviting me inside, and then fed upon him! This is reality! This is the truth! And here, in this world of shadows, the red truth has force! You must acknowledge what was said in red as the truth!"

"Fuck... you..." Yayoi wheezed out. Edelweiss's thumb covered her mouth, in response.

"I am real! I am the Oborozuka Vampire, a killer of men who feeds upon the blood of innocents! I am the culprit behind this crime, not a human!"

A sharp pain in her thumb prompted Edelweiss to flinch- Yayoi had _bitten_ her.

"Say that... in red," she forced out.

"Wh-what?!"

The vampire's fingers parted. Two strong arms, crossed, were pushing them apart. "You can say it with your god damn magic red truth, can't you? That you're the one who did this! No fuckin' around with 'she saw what she saw', right? Just say it was you, with that red you love so much!"

"You... you insolent...!"

With a quick movement, Yayoi used the space she'd made to swap arms, and began pushing against her grip with both arms and legs- looking positively Vitruvian in her grasp.

"You can't say it, can you? 'Cause it ain't true! You're just some egomaniac who wants to... fuckin', I dunno, take credit for what happened at _my_ site!"

"I'm- I'm-"

"Yeah, you can't! Because you ain't fuckin' _real,_ and whatever the hell's goin' on here- it's just as bullshit as you!"

With a twisting motion and a kick, Yayoi dropped out of Edelweiss's grasp, landing on the marble without so much as a flinch.

"Waheyo, Boss! That was freakin' _wild!_ Keep it up!"

Yayoi stood, and brandished a middle finger at the vampire queen. "Lemme tell you who _I_ am! I'm Yayoi god damn Murasaki, Ultimate Foreman! And I don't have time for any of your fake-ass fantasy bullshit! I'm gonna figure out who _really_ did this, and prove shit like you ain't somethin' real people gotta worry about!"

With a rush of air, Edelweiss shrunk down to the size of an ordinary human, and scowled. "My pet... I do believe this one might be _too_ tangy."

"Mrr..." Girl X mumbled, trying to stand.

"Rise and shine, my pet. Or would you rather I call on some of my _other_ thralls, to defend me?"

Yayoi bellowed. "Don't fuckin' ignore me, typhoon lady! I'm about to pound your shit in, so face forward!"

Edelweiss smirked, and rose into the air. A bell chimed, and- with a flash- several glowing red crosses, their ends sharpened, materialized in the air, their points directed at Yayoi.

"See if you can, then! Prove your 'truth' stronger than mine!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome! The stage is set- the facts are known, the enemy is here, and the truth intends to slip past your defenses. Our hero may be highly competent, but her greatest strength is in directing others. The boss is going to need able hands- no, able minds- to help unravel the vampire's deceptions! Please, lend her your support in the comments- strike true and blue.


	5. Mirage Coordinator

X

* * *

O

The scene- the skeleton of a building with three doors, enclosed in a blanket of plastic sheeting. The exterior sheeting, marked with spray-painted Xs, yet otherwise undisturbed but for a single tall gash some six meters away from the main door. A rough-hewn wooden staircase leads to a landing above the first floor, but this landing fails to cover much of the first floor, as the second floor's construction is unfinished. Past the staircase on the first floor, to the left, is a hallway along the left wall. At the end of the left wall is a door outside, locked- though the hallway continues, bending to the right along the back wall. The hallway ends, having looped back around to the main space. At the end of this hallway is a very large door, on the back wall to the left. Observe- this hallway circumscribes a room.

Zoom into that room. Six humans and a replicant, packed into a space that can barely be called a room, circled around a couch on which reclines another replicant. Two solid walls, and two framed walls, all of which stabbed several times, one of which moved aside to allow the larger replicant entry. As far as anyone is aware, none of the people in this room are vampires. The replicant on the couch, however, has just related a story describing such a creature attacking- and one of the humans has declared her intent to prove it true.

Another human isn't gonna go in for this shit, thanks. She's pointing a finger at the masked human, flatly denying the possibility of supernatural agency in the events of the previous night.

"...Let's get one thing straight, before we start gettin' worked up over a vampire. Which- I can't believe anyone's even pretendin' to take that shit seriously, but-"

"No pretending required, my dear," Girl X said.

"You shut up," Boss snapped. "Look- the doors're all locked, right? Means someone needed a key to get in. There's three fuckin' keys out there- someone coulda just come in with one of those, dressed up as a vampire, whatever."

"Three?" Wu asked. "You said five."

Boss shook her head. "It ain't me and Nakada- we're covered. I got a keypad lockbox where all the keys go, and both our keys went in there 'fore we hit the hay. I'm the only one who knows the code, so unless it was me, there's only three keys floatin' around to worry about."

"Unless it was you," Wu repeated. "Again, the two of you could've been accomplices- or perhaps you snuck out without waking Nakada-san."

Boss snorted. "Yeah, well it wasn't. I'm not gonna waste time wonderin' if maybe it _was_ me, so you can just deal. You wanna check the hotel's cameras or some shit later, be my guest."

"I'll do that," Wu said.

"Great. So if you see me sneakin' out in the middle of the night in a vampire costume to try and stab my own people to death, that'll be the end of it. Right now: 's three keys."

"Ah- remind me, Murasaki-san- who do those three keys belong to?" Girl X asked, with an irritating singsong in her voice. "Your subordinates, correct?"

Boss crossed her arms. "Yeah. Hosoo, Rizzini, and Yutani here. And I think we can rule 'em all out."

Girl X laughed. "Rule them all out, Murasaki-san? What _is_ it that you want? Is it to deny the vampire, or to exonerate your people? These are the only possibilities... so if you protect your men, you surrender to Her magic!"

The look Girl X received was nothing short of nuclear. "You- shut the fuck up! First off- everyone cut it out with the Murasaki-san! I'm the boss here, got it? You're gonna call me boss!"

"Right, of course, 'Boss-san.' But what of the dilemma? Do you truly intend to force yourself into surrender?"

A vein bulged on Boss's forehead, and she did her best to tower over the interloper. "There ain't no dilemma, dammit! It ain't the vampire _or_ my men! It's some other jagoff fuckin' with everybody's heads somehow!"

Sakaki raised a hand. "Hey, now, UG. I can vouch for those guys- they're a good bunch! Niner and the Ritz wouldn't hurt a fly, sure as I'm sure!"

"Ah, but what if-"

"And see, Gav knows these kindsa things. Patches, too- I mean, trip, he's on a drip, which means both he can't be the guy _and_ that Gav's a poet and he didn't know it!"

Aya Wu was jotting something down in a notebook. "Your character witness is noted, but I'm afraid that's inconclusive. Mura- er, Boss, you said you could rule them out?"

Boss nodded. "Listen up, bozos! Hosoo's the victim, so it ain't him! Rizzini's too damn thick to come up with a scheme like this, and obviously it ain't Yutani, 'cause- I mean, look at 'im! I don't care how well that cloak shit hid the attacker- there ain't any dressin' up Yutani like a vampire!"

Yutani's face- or, the cranial sensor array that kinda looked like a face- had a few indicators light up. "Boss."

"Yeah?"

"I thank you for defending me. But. I remain a suspect, as someone who may have let the attacker in from outside."

Wu- who'd raised a finger to object a moment ago- closed her mouth and put it down, Yutani having apparently taken the words out of her mouth.

"Kakakaka! See how your loyal knight throws himself before the enemy's blade, that you may avoid being driven into Her corner!" Girl X laughed. "Unit 9 remains a suspect!"

Boss rested her head in her hand and sighed. "You're right, Yutani. But- hey- that kinda leads into my point. It wasn't any of you guys, but it had to be one of your _keys._ Means the attacker coulda gone and _stolen_ 'em off you, right?"

A... _compartment_ opened, somewhere near Yutani's head. "Still got it. No one else can open my-"

"You _ate_ the god damn key, Yutani?!"

"It is not a mouth. It's- just a sort of pocket-"

"A pocket in your _head?!"_

"Yeah."

Boss dragged a hand down her face. "Fine. Okay. Great. So they didn't steal it from you. How about Rizzini?"

"Still asleep. Want I should call him?" Yutani asked.

She nodded. "Tell him to get his ass down here, sure- but more important, there's one more key we don't know about."

Wu closed her notebook. "You're talking about the victim's key, I assume?"

"Hosoo, yeah. The culprit's disappearin' act coulda just been a matter of takin' the key off his body."

Wu shook her head. "That doesn't answer the main problem. How did the culprit get _inside,_ with the doors locked?"

Boss had to think, for a minute. Rizzini's key was an option, until they checked to see if he still had it. But that aside- how'd the attacker gotten inside? "...Maybe all the doors weren't locked up. Hosoo mighta gone to his car for some reason when he was workin' on Toshiko, and forgot to lock up. Coulda happened durin' one of those blackouts of hers."

To4ko spoke up. "...he didn't mention anything about going to his car."

Boss shrugged. "Maybe he didn't think it was worth mentionin'. Had to get some supplies or somethin' to help fix you, didn't want to look like he'd forgotten somethin' important. Took advantage of the blackout to hide a slip-up, and didn't mention it to save face."

"Toppa that," Sakaki said, "there's all kindsa ways the vampire mighta found a way in. Picked a lock, maybe, I got a buddy who's good with those. We don't gotta frazzle our brains figurin' out the how'd-they-get-in part, yeah?"

Wu hesitated, then nodded. "That's... true. So... there's just the matter of explaining how the building was locked up when you arrived, then."

Sakaki was caught a little off-guard by that. "Uh... trip, yeah. That bit's still weird."

Boss snapped her fingers. "Look, we got that part just fine. Killer picked a lock, did all that shit to the two of 'em, then stole Hosoo's key and locked 'em inside. Easy."

O

* * *

X

The organ played itself, eerily. Or- well, no, Yayoi figured, _eerie_ meant something else. Eerie was a creeping sorta dread, like _maybe_ something's not right. Shit was _definitely_ not right, so- fuck it, a magic organ playing ominous music was right at home.

She shook her head to clear it. The Boss in the real world didn't have any clue about this dumb parallel reality shit, and making the transition was kind of disorienting. Realizing, all of a sudden: oh, right, _this_ is how things are, of course. Like waking up from a dream, but in reverse.

"Ah, Yayoi! You think you have a way through past my truth?"

"Don't call it truth, asshole! I figured out your damn trick!"

Girl X stood a short distance behind Edelweiss, her mask somehow looking worried. Not, like, just a feeling- in this place, X's mask actually emoted. "My lady... you endanger yourself...!"

"Nonsense," she said. "Come, then, Yayoi! Learn the folly of trying to strike the Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew!"

Yayoi knew. She didn't need a smashed-up pallet or whatever, to get some wood to stake that thing with. All she needed was the _truth-_ a truth to cut through her red. As her words came forth, they took form, coalescing into a blue spike in her hand. She charged, meaning to put the dread of the grave in the vampire's heart.

"Here's what happened, dammit! Some maniac showed up and got inside somehow without a key, no problem. After they stabbed the shit out of Hosoo and Toshiko, they took Hosoo's key off his body, and shut the building up behind them! That's all someone needed to do to pull that shit off!"

Yayoi stomped forth, brandishing the blue stake at the vampire. That unconcerned look in her eye- puttin' on a brave face, probably.

"You got this, Boss!" Gavin cheered, standing in front of To4ko. "Use that buff you got and get Buffy on the bloodsucker!"

"Is that all you've got to work with, Ultimate Foreman? Is _that_ the only truth you can muster against mine?! Kakakakakaka!"

"My lady," Girl X urged. "That stake- it _will_ harm you, if you do not defend yourself...!"

Edelweiss's eyes narrowed, and- just as Yayoi was about to plunge the blue stake into her heart- she vanished into thick black smoke. It rushed past Yayoi, leaving her coughing, and coalesced back into the form of the vampire behind Gavin.

"Whoa, hold on-!"

The vampire laughed a high, shrieking laugh. "I know just where I can find a blood-red truth to trounce your feeble assault!"

"Sakaki!" Yayoi yelled, and was already charging towards the vampire- but the scene-

X

* * *

O

-changed.

"Uh..." Sakaki started.

"S'good, right? We don't gotta suspect any of our people, _or_ a goddamn vampire."

Sakaki shook his head, kinda sheepishly. "Actually, uh... trip, maybe I shouldn't say, but we gotta make sure all the facts is laid out where we can see 'em, yeah?"

Boss leered. "Whaddaya mean?"

Sakaki scratched his head. "Uh... see, I dunno exactly why I, uh, did what Gav did, but... I checked 'im when I showed up. Went through his pockets, lookin' for clues and stuff."

Wu stared at him. "You... pickpocketed the victim while he was dying?"

He backed up, looking real nervous. "N-no, Yeah-yeah! It's like- Gav wasn't tryin' to steal nothin', s'just... y'know how it is on crime shows, right? Knew a guy who acted on one of those, he got some awards- trip, that ain't material to the convo here... but like, you gotta look for evidence, right?"

"Ka ka ka... and what, pray tell, did you find, dearest Sakaki-san?" Girl X asked- with a tone in her voice like she already knew.

"Uh... well, trip, UG. It was, uh... a few things, just normal sorta pocket stuff, but he defs had a key. Same kinda key the Ritz showed me yesterday, defs to the crib here."

O

* * *

X

By the time Yayoi made it to Gavin, he'd already been dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The vampire became shadow and backed away, leaving Gavin with a pair of holes in his neck.

"Refreshing! Truly refreshing! Thank you _ever_ so much, child of man!"

"Augh... trip..." Gavin said, trying to stand.

Yayoi adjusted course, charging the vampire with blue stake outstretched. "Don't you _dare_ lay a hand on him, you piece of shit! I'll rip you apart!"

With a chuckle, Edelweiss faded again, and reappeared a few meters away. Yayoi scowled and adjusted course again- and after a couple more iterations of this annoying teleport shit, she _hurled_ the blue stake, javelin-style. It flew with astonishing speed towards the vampire and-

-was shattered to pieces as a floating red cross appeared and intercepted it. "Weren't you listening? Gavin Sakaki, the first to discover the crime scene, found Hosoo's key on his body! Your poorly-conceived blue truth- that the would-be killer made off with his key- is not a part of the ultimate truth!"

Yayoi snarled, and another blue stake coalesced in her hand. "Shut up! I'm not gonna get nailed down by technicalities! The attacker... somehow snuck in behind Sakaki, and planted the key back on Hosoo before he could check the body!"

She hurled it, but the red cross changed trajectory in midair and splintered the second stake. "Kakakakaka! Gavin Sakaki's eyes were on Haruto Hosoo from the moment he entered the building, and he saw no one plant a key on the body!"

Another stake, desperately thrown as Yayoi dodged being skewered by the cross herself. "So they did it using some kinda fuckin' trick Sakaki couldn't see!"

Splinters of blue wood exploded in the air as the cross flew and destroyed the third stake. "No one besides Gavin Sakaki, Haruto Hosoo, and White Sky Toshiko was in the building for the entire time between his entry and the arrival of the police! And- before you try to weasel out of it again- no trick exists to plant a key on Hosoo's body without Sakaki noticing!"

"Fuck you!" Yayoi roared, hurling another stake. "So he did notice! He saw whatever the trick was, but he just didn't recognize it for what it was!"

"Uh," Gavin interjected, "I didn't see nothin' move around the body or anything like that... whole place was totally still. Nothin' for Gav to notice or not notice, yeah? Aw- trip, was that...? You can use the red by accident?!"

"Not helping, Sakaki!" Yayoi shouted, panting for breath.

The vampire's _god damn annoying as shit laugh_ echoed throughout the cathedral. "You'll never slay me with puny attacks like that, Ultimate Foreman! Have I not made it abundantly clear that Hosoo's key remained on him the entire time?"

"I'll kick your ass!" Yayoi yelled, for lack of a counterargument.

Edelweiss laughed. "Now, if it wasn't Hosoo... it must have been one of _your_ people, right? Four keys remain!"

"Fuck you," Yayoi spat. "Someone coulda stolen my keys, then! Guessed the fuckin' code to the lockbox, used one of those!"

"Oh, that's _precious,"_ Edelweiss sneered. "You'd like to claim your own security failed? Plea incompetence?  If there's one thing you aren't, Ultimate Foreman, it's incompetent. No criminal could have stolen your keys! You know perfectly well that the code to the lockbox is too long to guess, and you're the only one who knows it! It remained locked and sealed from the moment you locked it last night to the moment you opened it in the morning!"

Blue splinters flew, but- had it been a feint? Yayoi had moved into striking range, and with a flash, another blue stake was directed towards the vampire's heart.

"I might not be incompetent, but Rizzini sure is! The attacker coulda lifted it from him in his sleep, and used it to get in and out of the building!"

It should have struck true... but rather than be intercepted with a red X, the stake simply shattered on the floor as the vampire vanished with a red flash. She reappeared a few feet away- or had she always been there? Was it an illusion?

"Nngh...! Absolutely not! None of your employees had their keys stolen from them! Apart from Nakada and those not on duty, whose keys were placed in your lockbox, all of them were and are in control of their keys without interruption!"

Yayoi stopped for breath. Fuck... what did that mean?! If the keys weren't stolen... damn it, that couldn't be it! It couldn't be one of them!

"Kakakakakaka! What is it, Yayoiiiiiii? Out of ideas already? Just admit it was me! It was me! Or else... would you rather accuse your own people?!"

No... no, that couldn't be right. There wasn't any goddamn _motive,_ it didn't make sense! For all their incompetence, she wouldn't have hand-picked them if they weren't trustworthy! Fucking vampire- trying to attack her credentials as the _boss!_

Suddenly, the vampire vanished again- a blue stake swung wildly, barely dodged.

"Hahaha... man, almost gotchu! You're lightning-quick, huh?"

Yayoi looked up. _Sakaki?_

"Rrrrr... on your feet already, clown? What's that little thumbtack you're swinging about?"

"S'no big deal, really. Just... I hate to see someone try to break a bond of trust, y'know? Here you are, tryin' to force Boss to wonder if her peeps might be would-be killers, but... naw. Naw, Gav's not about that." He tossed the stake from hand to hand, his stance casual.

"Careful, Sakaki...!"

"Heh. You got it, boss. Here's careful, for you: the mastermind blackmailed someone, yeah? Threatened a loved one, or summat- y'dig? And hey- no one's dead, right? Coulda been one of 'em did it, but 'cause they were at it to help protect someone!"

...Yeah. That... fuck, that was distressingly possible. Every one of those lunkheads had a heart of gold, but hearts of gold could still get into trouble.

As Gavin swung his blue, the vampire... didn't even bother to block. She simply stepped out of the way.

"Is that supposed to threaten me, clown? You merely propose a what-if- not a truth that threatens to explain me away! How should a human culprit's motives matter?"

"...I mean, just sayin', it coulda been Nines or the Ritz, yeah? But we don't gotta think they're secretly psycho killers for that, right? Coulda been they had a good reason! And that means it coulda been just humans, right? Or like, a replicant in Nines' case."

"...Is that it? Is that your blue assault?"

Gavin shrugged. "Sure, let's make it official. Nines or the Ritz had some kinda good reason for doin' this, so they used their key to get in and out and set up some tricks to make it look like a vampire attack. Nothin' to it!"

Countess Edelweiss wore a nervous smile as Gavin tossed a stake her way- bracing for impact. Before it could it, though...

Unidentified Girl X was there, her mask glowing red. "None of Yayoi Murasaki's employees used their keys to lock or unlock any of the doors to the construction site between the hours of 5:36pm yesterday and 5:40am today. Gavin Sakaki arrived at 5:39am."

Gavin's stake shattered on her mask, which returned to normal.

"Trip...! Watch it, UG! You coulda got hurt!"

"No," she said. "I act only to protect my mistress."

"Wh- that don't mean you couldn't get hurt by- like, you gotta be's careful!"

Yayoi took a deep breath. That... that red ruled them all out, right? Couldn't have been Yutani or Rizzini- they had their keys the whole time, and didn't use them on the doors. It wasn't her or Nakada- those keys had been in the lockbox. And Gavin found Hosoo's key on him inside the closed room, so... they were in the clear.

...Wait. That was bad.

 _"Thank_ you, my pet. Your move was perhaps... rash, premature... but perhaps it's of no consequence. All five human suspects having been eliminated... checkmate is at hand!"

Yayoi tensed. "Hey, wait a minute-"

"Kakakaka! You fought valiantly, but... what is valiance? What is courage, in the face of a true monster? You would have done better to cower before me, mortals! Bravery is of no use to you, children of man, when the truth itself makes plain the peril I pose!"

Oh, _hell_ no.

"I ain't done yet, you bloodsuckin' Hot Topic reject!"

The vampire kept swooshing around to behind pillars and benches... but Yayoi wasn't going to be stopped by that. She vaulted over a pew, and another, blue light coalescing in her hand.

"Wh-wh-wh-what?!"

"You think you're so damn clever, goin' on about the keys and shit... but you're just tryin' to distract me! And that won't happen! How about _this?!_ "

X

* * *

O

"Look, let's put all this key shit to the side," Boss said. "We're playin' right into the culprit's hands, here- assumin' they came in through the doors!"

"That's..." Wu thought for a moment. "...Are there any other entrances? The building seems to be entirely closed in."

Boss pounded a fist into her palm. "Closed in by what? S'plastic sheeting, Wu! That shit bends and folds! The culprit coulda just pulled up some of the sheeting in a place there wasn't a wall, and crawled inside! The doors don't fuckin' matter!"

The grin on Boss's face disappeared when that goddamn laugh rang out again.

"Ka ka ka...! Oh, Boss-san, surely you knew?"

She glared. "What's _that_ s'posed to mean, kid?"

"You've worked with the material, haven't you? You know exactly what the result of such an act would be!"

While Boss was trying to puzzle out what the hell she meant, Girl X walked over to one of the unfinished walls of To4ko's room, which were wrapped in the same sort of plastic as the main walls. She... pinched the material, and pulled her fingers down along it, forming a crease.

"This material, see... sure, it can be bent, but it leaves a mark! To bend, crease, or fold the sheeting in such a way to allow a person through... it would leave evidence on the plastic! No one could have entered the building by pushing plastic aside without leaving a mark on it! And, of course, no such marks were found!"

Boss sighed. "Dammit, X- maybe we just didn't find where they got in!"

Wu shook her head. "My men conducted a fairly thorough inspection. They'd have noticed anything of that sort."

"Then- the culprit, fuckin'... replaced the sheeting on the way out!"

She realized the problem as she was saying it, but Yutani spoke up. "Takes at least four people to do that without heavy machinery. They'd need a lot of help. Plus, our own roll of the stuff is stored inside, and it doesn't look like it's been touched." He pointed outside To4ko's room, at the huge spool of sheeting sitting in the corner underneath the second floor landing.

"So- so there's gotta be some other way inside! Without usin' the doors or movin' the sheeting! It's not a damn _vampire!_ "

O

* * *

X

"Tiresome," Edelweiss said. "Allow me to put an end to all this nonsense!"

"Like hell you will! I'll keep throwin' nonsense at you 'till you're buried in it, Edelweiss!"

The vampire's wings rose up behind her, and with a majestic flap, she rose into the air, out of Yayoi's reach. "Let us not tarry with plastic sheeting any longer! No markings were found on the outer layer of plastic sheeting! No sheeting was replaced! The sheeting is the same sheeting that covered the walls before you locked up!"

Gavin spoke up. "Hold on a mo'... If the sheeting all up on the walls wasn't changed, then it was the sheeting over the ceiling!"

Edelweiss snarled. "Do not waste my time, fool! The ceiling sheeting was likewise undisturbed! As far as blocking entry and exit is concerned, the outer layer of sheeting serves as a solid wall! No person passed through it until Gavin Sakaki! Be silenced by the blood-red truth!"

Yayoi leapt off a pew, jumping for Edelweiss. "Walls, ceiling... don't fuck with me! There was some way through the floor! A hidden passage!"

With a wingbeat, Edelweiss rose higher, out of Yayoi's reach. "You built this place! You know that no such hidden passages exist! It is absolutely certain that only the doors of the building could be used to enter or exit!"

That last declaration was accompanied by a shaking of the air itself, a red glow that blew away all the feeble blue truths that dared to claim that this building was not a closed room. Yayoi crashed to the ground, a pew breaking underneath her. Gavin rushed to help her up, while To4ko... kept lying on the ground, paralyzed with terror, not talking. Kind of a trend, with her.

"I must say- the futility of your cheap excuses is amusing. Even if I'd been unable to contradict your petty claims of moved sheeting or missing keys... you'd only be able to explain how a human could have entered! You would be powerless to explain the culprit's obvious vampiric powers!"

Yayoi and Gavin stood amidst splinters of dark wood. There... had to be some way to get around the red truth the vampire was slinging! How... what was the loophole?


	6. Alibi Carousel

"...Sakaki."

"Sup, boss?"

"When you got to the site, how long'd you spend lookin' around for a way in, before you cut the place open?"

Gavin thought for a moment. "...Dunno. Like, a couple minutes, maybe? S'a big place, so... don't remember too well, on account of Gav was havin' himself a panic."

 _That_ was it. Goddamn fake-ass vampire with the fuckin' weasel words...

"Hey! You think I'm stupid, Edelweiss?!"

It was kinda hard to tell if Edelweiss's smug smile was an answer to the hypothetical question, or just her usual amount of smug.

"Five thirty-nine, huh?! And none of 'em used their keys between yesterday and 5:40? You think I'm gonna get scared away by that one minute of Sakaki lookin' around? The culprit went in _after_ 5:40 but before Gavin actually got inside, put the key back on Hosoo, and hid somewhere! "

That was a blue stake, hurled directly at the vampire, and- aw, hell. The goddamn handmaid went and blocked it with her face again.

"My apologies- I believed the minute sufficient to make the point. Allow me to seal off that class of attacks:  Haruto Hosoo definitely had a key to the building on his body at 5:39am, the time at which Gavin arrived and before the time when any of your employees could have used their keys."

Yayoi cursed under her breath. There had to be a loophole in there- she didn't extend the time, she just talked about... Hosoo's... key.

"...hey, that doesn't mean anything, dammit! That time only talks about _my_ people! If someone stole Hosoo's key, then put it back on... his..."

There it was again- the ka ka ka, soundin' like a goddamn crow. "Does your memory fail you so soon, Yayoiiiiii? I've already told you in red that no one else was in the building after Gavin entered! No one could have hid!"

"I- my apologies, my lady," Girl X said. "My interference, then... was unnecessary."

Edelweiss patted Girl X on the head. "You needn't apologize, my pet. This foolish mortal is simply flailing blindly- she exists to be toyed with."

No, no, this... fuck, what were they dancin' around? The culprit had to leave through the door, but her employees, who _had_ keys, couldn't have used them on the door before 5:40. They had to have used their own key on the door... before Gavin entered, but after a minute after he arrived. That was the window they could use to slip out... so...

"...That red shit only said they didn't use their _own_ damn key!  Hosoo let someone inside, and then once they committed the crime, they swapped keys! They used Hosoo's key to get out, and put their own key on-"

"All of them were and are in control of their keys without interruption! No such swap was possible- and really, what purpose would have been served by such a switch?"

"Your- the fuckin', red truth garbage! It gets around it!"

Edelweiss grinned a cruel grin. "I thought you were arguing that I didn't exist, dear Yayoi! If I am not real, then neither are my blood-red words, and the culprit would have no motive to work around them!"

...Shit. She had a point. She couldn't just say that the culprit did something to find a loophole in the vampire's truth- since this wasn't _real,_ and a real culprit wouldn't know anything about it. It had to be something they'd do for an actual reason.

What _was_ that reason? It looked like _someone_ on her crew had to have been involved, _somehow,_ and Sakaki was right about that not necessarily being the end of the world. But... Yutani wasn't letting anything slip, and Rizzini...

X

* * *

O

"...So, uh... wh-what's going on?"

Rizzini looked nervous, even though... this wasn't obviously a crime scene, anymore. To4ko's head was back on her shoulders, and Hosoo had been rushed off to the hospital. The damage to the walls, though, and the cops everywhere... yeah, made sense he'd be a little spooked. Didn't mean anything yet.

"Hosoo and the client got stabbed," Boss said, glaring at him. "Any idea what happened?"

"M-me? Seriously, boss? How's- what the hell- what's, who...?"

"You don't know anything about this, I'm guessing," Wu said.

"I- uh, about- holy shit, Toshiko's whole... th-the whole place is all wrecked!"

"No," Boss said. "Just the client, and some of the drywall. We can fix this up in a couple hours- but that's not the point. Point is- who done it?"

"Not me!"

Boss sighed. "Look- sure. Just- you got your key, right?"

Rizzini broke out into a relieved grin, and withdrew his key from his pocket. "Y-yeah! See? That means I'm innocent!"

He got a few stares, which made his face fall.

"...Means I'm innocent, right?"

"It means you're part of a small pool of suspects, actually," Wu said, making his face stop falling and crash to the ground in a giant fireball.

A hand clapped on Rizzini's shoulder.

"Look, Ritz- you ain't done nothin', right? You wanna tell us you're free 'n clear?"

"Y-Yeah! Yes! I didn't- shit, what happened, even?!"

Sakaki's expression didn't change. "Thas right, my guy. I can see it on your face, plainer'n day. You're all good, totally."

"T-totally!"

"So, way Gav figgers it, since you're innocent, you tell errybody what you were up to last night, that'll totes clear you, copy?"

"I- uh... last night?"

"Like an alibi!" Sakaki said.

Rizzini looked... nervous. Like, he always looked kinda nervous, but more desperate than the usual nervous.

"...O-okay. I'll, uh... I'll tell you everything."

**RAY RIZZINI'S TESTIMONY**

"So- last night, yeah? I was... uh, at the _biggest_ party. And I know what you're sayin'- Ray, you've never been here, right? Who's inviting you to parties? And that's where I tell you I got myself a _reputation._ Everyone from Hokkaido to Kyushu knows that Ray Rizzini is the biggest party animal you've ever seen. You're throwing a party, you're gonna look me up. That's just how it is. If your party doesn't have me, it might as well have nobody!

"So I was at, uh, Jessica's house. Yeah! And, uh, Jessie, she's got the whole, uh, nightlife, in the town, over at her house. All the hottest chicks and dudes from all over, uh, Oboro- Obozuko- all over town. And there was shots. There were shots like you wouldn't _believe._ Really good really really good beer. The fancy kind, y'know. Fancy... Beer... brand beer. And I drank, like, _so_ much. And I didn't even get drunk, because I'm like a Greek god or something, see? I won... all the drinking contests. That there were. Like I won six of them, I think. Definitely.

"Anyway- when I was good and buzzed, I started doin' my stunts. Y'know- just some stunts. The usual. Lifting weights one-handed. Really big ones. Like- uh, a hundred kilos? That's a lot. Check out these muscles. And everyone did, and they said "oh damn, Ray, your muscles are the sickest and biggest muscles I've ever seen!" Stuff like that. 'Course, I was just getting warmed up- after that, I won, contests? Arm... wrestling. And leg wrestling. Championships. I bench pressed, like, a dozen girls. At once.

"And- oh man, I can't go into the details about all the sex I had, and with who, but it was basically everyone. Everyone wanted a piece of me, because of my awesome bod and talents and stuff. So, obviously- I did a great job at that, with my really big-"

* * *

"Jessica who?"

"pen- what?"

"You said this party was hosted by a Jessica? Jessica who?" Aya Wu asked.

Ray's face fell. "...Uh, Jessica... Jess...ter. Son. Jessica Jesterson."

Wu nodded, and typed the name into her phone.

"W-wait! Don't- you don't need to-"

"No results," Wu said.

"I- haha, that's... a fake name! Like, a nickname! Not her, uh, real... name? So obviously, it's not gonna be in, the, uh, police thing. Database."

"The phonebook. And can I get her _actual_ name?"

"...Haha! Uh, I... man, I told you, I'm new in town, so... I just know her by Jessie, I don't know what her, uh, real name is."

Wu gave him an unimpressed look. "Her address, then. The location of the party you went to."

Ray coughed a little, looking around for help. Finding none, he said "I, uh... I dunno! See, uh, I forgot, because... I just drank, um, so much fancy beer, and got drunk, so I don't remember the-"

"You said you didn't get drunk."

"...Right away! I didn't get drunk right away! I only got drunk, uh, after all my stunts! And sex! The sex I did with my huge-"

Rizzini was interrupted by a nose sniffing at his face.

"Uh..."

"you call thate drunk??" Nakada said, smelling Rizzini's breath. "I'm have the is moure drunk from, a juice, before."

"I... slept it off!"

Nakada held him still and kept sniffing him, which was really uncomfortable to watch, and would've been even more uncomfortable to interrupt.

"...noope," Nakada said. "Your're a lier about your alcohol! Liaaaeerrrrr."

 _"Rizzini,"_ Boss finally said, removing her head from where it hung in her hands, "What were you __actually_ _ doing last night?"

Defeat had never before been so clearly written on a man's face.

**RAY RIZZINI'S ACTUAL TESTIMONY**

"...I went right to my hotel room at the Toyoko Inn and fell asleep watching pay-per-view wrestling."

* * *

 

"Well, _that's_ settled," Boss said, as Rizzini reluctantly accepted a high-five from Nakada. "Rizzini's got an alibi."

The policewoman shook her head. "That's _not_ settled. Why should I believe the story about being alone in his room is any more reliable than the story about the party?"

Boss quirked an eyebrow. "You heard _that_ lie, and you wanna claim Rizzini's smart enough to pull off any of this crap?"

"Wh- B-boss, that's-"

Wu started counting on her fingers. "Operating under strict orders. Being used as an accomplice for a simple task. Feigning incompetence. Tricking-"

"Feigning? Tricking? Gimme a break, Wu- Rizzini's incompetence is the real deal. There's no way he'd get away with it- and it'd take a hell of a clueless mastermind to rely on him not to give shit away."

Wu frowned. "Still, he's a suspect. You haven't offered any concrete proof that he wasn't involved."

Boss shrugged. "Sure. Be suspicious if you want. Be my guest. There's gotta be more, uh, fuck, what's the word... more plausible shit to look into first."

"Your other employees, then. You-"

Wu startled somewhat as an enormous claw hand offered her a piece of paper.

"Charging receipt," Yutani said.

Wu looked kind of nervous about Yutani towering over her. "Ch-charging receipt?"

"Toyoko Inn. Heavy machinery pen. Stayed the night there. S'proof."

Boss leaned over and took a quick look at the receipt. It listed a wattage, and times at which the registered client- Unit 9 Yutani- was connected to the power supply.

Wu looked it over and confirmed the details. "Plugged in at 10:55pm... _unplugged_ at 4:30am the next day, and plugged back in within the same minute, at 4:30am. Unplugged at 5:37am."

"That's a solid alibi, isn't it, hm?" Gah, where'd Girl X come from? She'd shoved past Rizzini and taken a look at the receipt. "Yes indeed- accounted for since well before the time of the crime, until a mere two minutes before Gavin Sakaki arrived on the crime scene! No one, not even Wataru Nishikiyama, could have traveled from the Toyoko Inn to the construction site in less than two minutes! I think this conclusively exonerates Yutani-san, does it not? Ka ka ka!"

O

* * *

X

The vampire hovered. She had fuckin' _wings,_ but she was clearly too hoity-toity to do anything as pedestrian as _flap_ the damn things. Her cackle echoed throughout the cathedral as Girl X concluded her explanation.

"There's simply no way! It couldn't have been Ray Rizzini's doing, and this alibi proves it wasn't Unit 9 Yutani! Furthermore, you yourself, Yayoi Murasaki, sealed away the keys belonging to yourself and "Guns" Nakada, and Haruto Hosoo's key was on his body inside the closed room!"

"Shut the _fuck_ up-"

"And the keys are the only way for anyone to get in or out of the building! No one besides the two victims were inside the building when Gavin Sakaki cut open the closed room! The culprit escaped, and the only person who could have escaped without using a key... is myself! Stare into the inky abyss of the truth, Yayoiiiii!"

...No. No, this fuckin' bloodsucker witch wasn't gonna make a fool of her. A person couldn't get out without using a key or leaving a mark in the plastic... but a key could slip through undetected. And... how?

"Hey, Edelweiss! You ever do any construction?"

"...Oh? You suggest I may have sullied my flawless hands with such _menial_ labor?"

A blue stake formed in Yayoi's hand. "You think I'm dumb, huh?! You think just anyone could do my job? That I don't gotta be clever sometimes?!"

The vampire laughed. "Far be it from me to suggest such a thing! Have I not already established in blood-red truth that you are not incompetent?"

"Then why're you actin' like I couldn't think of _this?!"_ Yayoi yelled, and charged with the stake. "It's as simple as it gets! Literally a simple machine, like you and your convoluted-ass magic shit didn't think of! Ever hear of a pulley?!"

"I-"

"The culprit hooked the key on a long string or something, then used Hosoo's corpse as a pulley! They set it up so that when they pulled on the string from outside, it'd pull the key towards him- and they arranged the corpse so the key would fall off when it reached his pocket! Then they just took the string with 'em and left!"

The vampire went silent, and- a blank expression on her face- sank to the ground, stunned. That had to be it! The culprit just set up some complicated-ass trap, and put the key back on Hosoo from outside, without Sakaki ever showing up and-

As Yayoi drove the stake forward to strike the vampire's heart, there was a flash of movement- and she felt the blue stake splinter in her hands as the vampire whipped her head in its direction and _crunched_ it apart with blood-red fangs.

"A _wire trick?_ Really, Yayoi, a _wire trick?_ Who _exactly_ do you think you're dealing with, here?  Obviously, I would not permit a wire trick, and none were used!"

"The fuck- I didn't say a wire! It was a string!"

"It's all the same class of naive tricks! Devised by the unimaginative to eternally dance around the plain truth! Nothing other than a hand was used to move a key!"

"...That include Yutani's, like, cool grabby extra claw dealies?" Gavin asked.

"Wh- ah, yes. Of course- those parts of his body that can grab... count as hands. And before you ask- no, Unit 9 Yutani lacks any sort of hidden, string-like hands that could do what you suggest! And- while I cannot truthfully say it is _impossible_ for anything to go in and out from the building,  this case is a closed room! By that, I mean that no murder or attempted murder could be accomplished from outside, nor could anyone or anything go in or out except by means of the doors!"

Yayoi took a deep breath. There... had to be something there. Probably wasn't Rizzini, Hosoo's key was accounted for, she and Nakada didn't do it... Yutani, though, that was a maybe. That plug thing was suspicious.

"...Okay, how about this? Let's say Yutani got blackmailed, or hacked, or something... what if he somehow slipped the plug, made it look like he was plugged in when he really wasn't?"

Edelweiss smirked. "Oho? And _how_ might he have done anything of the sort, Yayoi?"

"Fuckin'... I dunno! I'm not a computer whiz! He just did some fuckin' hacking shit!"

Sakaki nodded enthusiastically. "Trip, yeah! She don't gotta explain anything- I ever tell you 'bout this kid Hashisawa I met a ways back? Real good with machines, so like... she could make 'em do anything, y'dig? All kinds of techno-sorcery none of us could even wrangle up in our thinks!"

The vampire scowled, and swept an arm to the side, spreading darkness throughout the already dimly-lit cathedral. A pitch, inky blackness which no light could penetrate. "A _human,_ attempting to use what amounts to magic? I should think not."

Yayoi backed up. "The hell is-"

"Eiserne Jungfrau!" the vampire shouted. "I call upon the executor of our contract! Render unto me my faithful servant!"

The darkness... moved. Forward.

"Oh, hey, Edie!" the darkness said. "You need something?"

"E-E-E-Edie?!" Edelweiss said, her pale face flushing red. "I- I must insist you refer to me by my proper title when I have gues-"

"Yeah yeah yeah," the darkness said. "Look- I gotta finish some stuff up with my brother, okay? Can you gimme a minute?"

The vampire swallowed, nervously, and stomped a foot on the ground, creating a resounding boom. "I- the terms of our contract state- that you must render assistance unto-"

Yayoi stepped up to the darkness. "Hey! Who the hell're you?"

The darkness- well, it was pitch black darkness from which no light could escape, so you couldn't really tell it except by the edges, but- it turned.

"Oh! Hey! You're one of Edie's guests? I'm Naberius."

"I'm not a _guest,_ dammit, I'm-"

"Yeah, like an alternate dimension puzzle prisoner or something. I gotchu. It's one of her joke things, where she calls you a guest anyway-"

 _"Render assistance unto me against the heretics,_ please," Edelweiss said through gritted teeth, her face still flushed.

The darkness pulsed assent. "Oh, yeah, you got it. Like- I'm busy, but I can come out and give 'em a quick swipe before I go back and finish up."

"The fourth, please," Edelweiss said.

"The fourth? Fourth what?" Yayoi said- and then suddenly a searing pain drew a line across her front.

"Knox's 4th! It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard-to-understand scientific devices to be used!"

So, seeing what happened there was out of the question- hurt too damn much for that. Yayoi had fallen over, and the darkness was gone, and the ceiling was there, in front of her, because of being on the floor. _Fuck._

"Allow me to clarify:" the vampire said. "To gesture vaguely at "hacking" is to invoke a hard-to-understand scientific device. While such things may exist in the vicinity of the crime, their properties cannot be relevant to the case unless their manner of action can be concisely explained to and predicted by an astute reader of detective fiction without any specialized background knowledge."

Okay. Okay, one hand checked her front, and concluded she wasn't bleeding. Hell, her clothes weren't even torn. That red blade- she'd seen a red blade, if not its wielder, before she'd been sent sprawling- had just burned, not dealt a lethal blow.

Yayoi got to one knee, ignoring Gavin and To4ko's yammering about whether she was all right, or whatever. "Fine," she said, spitting on the ground. "All I gotta do is explain exactly how he fooled the receipt, and then it ain't a hard-to-understand science whatever, right?"

"Fooled the receipt?" Edelweiss asked, cackling. "You doubt the power of a receipt to prove the presence or absence of a particular person? Foolish."

"I'll... fuck, I'll think of something! There's gotta be some trick!"

...Except she didn't know jack about computers, really. Neither did Gavin, if his comments about Hashizawa were any indication. Who could-

Blue flashed into an alabaster hand. "Unit 9 Yutani cut power to the digital clock responsible for keeping time, at 4:30am. He was able to leave the inn to become an accomplice to the attack, and then return later and restore power to both the clock and the charging station. The times on the receipt were therefore falsified."

It was White Sky To4ko, nervous but on her feet, wielding one of the blue stakes of potential truth.

"Wh- hey, Toshiko, get the fuck down! We're here to protect you, got it?! You don't need to fight this-" Yayoi staggered, the pain from Naberius' attack interrupting her.

Ignoring Yayoi, To4ko charged. Which... wasn't a good idea, judging from the manic grin on Edelweiss's face.

"Foolish girl!" Edelweiss laughed, dodging out of the way without bothering to counter. "I need no red to tell you that Unit 9 Yutani arrived twelve minutes after Gavin Sakaki called him over- even if such a clock trick were possible, he could not have committed the crime in that timeframe, and then still had over an hour between an ersatz "4:30" and "5:37" to charge further and retrieve the receipt! Furthermore, the clock used to monitor the charging station was quartz, and its timekeeping would not have been fooled by an interruption of power, nor any other means!"

To4ko didn't stop, wheeling around and hurling a new stake into the air with mechanical precision. "Th-then, Yutani-san copied his identification and registration to another device, and s-switched out with it at 4:30, freeing himself up to leave and help commit the crime!"

"Kakakaka! Spirited, eager to take up arms- but you're clearly green in this manner of combat! Replicant identification is not so easy to copy and falsify! That which the charging station identified as Unit 9 Yutani was legitimately registered as his person!"

To4ko's shot went wide, but Gavin took advantage of the vampire's distraction.

"Eyyy, Rae-Rae, givin' the game away with that wordin', huh? Check it: Niner's body is, whatchacallit, modular! He's got more'n one chargeable part with the same registration! Niner just took off a part like a shirt and left it chillin' in the dock, yeah?"

Gavin sent the blue spear flying, and... the vampire _caught_ it out of the air.

She grinned a wicked grin.

X

* * *

 

O

"This hiccup in the record," Aya Wu said, pointing at the receipt. "Care to explain it?"

Yutani peered at the receipt, then nodded. "Main lifting unit's got its own power supply. Not hooked up to the core. Finished charging the lifter, and then switched it to the core."

Wu nodded. "Checks out."

O

* * *

X

"Unit 9 Yutani indeed has two distinct chargeable parts! However, they are not designed to be decoupled, and are not separable without hours of attention from a trained mechanic! Furthermore, Unit 9's core is not mobile without the lifting unit, nor can the lifting unit be operated without the core attached!"

Edelweiss tossed the spear aside, where it... was caught by To4ko, who refreshed its gleam with a new truth. "Then- the discontinuity was Yutani-san unplugging himself and plugging back in... to an extension cord! With the extension cord, he could continue charging at the inn while helping commit the crime at the scene!"

This time, the spear was intercepted by a red cross.

"Absolutely not! No extension cord could carry power over such a distance! Anything hooked up to the charging station was within 100 meters of it, at maximum!"

"He- he printed out a fake receipt himself, based on the real receipt!" To4ko said, desperately swinging again.

The vampire's smile twisted, and a red cross smashed apart To4ko's attack, and continued forward. "The receipt Unit 9 showed was genuine, printed by Toyoko Inn's system, and reflects a real record of the charging station's usage!"

The cross continued through the blue and pierced through To4ko's neck, severing her head from her shoulders.

"NO!" Yayoi cried out, finally getting to her feet and running for To4ko.

"Kakakakakaka! This would be the second time I've done this to you, hm?" Edelweiss cackled.

Before Yayoi got over to her, To4ko managed to crawl over to her head and reaffix it, albeit precariously, with the neck brace damaged somewhat.

"Shit- you okay, Toshiko?"

"I- yes. I... this isn't real. It isn't real, I'm... I'm fine."

Real or not, Yayoi was sick of having her client decapitated. Sick of... mirrors not showing people, sick of vampires sucking blood, sick of mist through the-

"...Hold the fuck on. This was a closed room, but that don't mean nothing could go in or out! Toshiko's footage showed that mist! The hell's with your definition?!"

Edelweiss looked annoyed. "First- that was _vampiric_ mist, which is overtly magical and circumvents human rules- and second, I told you nothing went in or out except through the doors. Mist through a keyhole in the door is covered! The nature of that mist... would you like to claim it was poisonous, perhaps? Some sort of sleeping drug or whatnot?"

Yayoi pointed an accusing finger. "No unknown drugs, dammit! Quit fuckin' around with me!"

Edelweiss laughed. "It was nothing other than vampiric mist, my dear! If you doubt me, and want to suspect that mist of having been used to facilitate the murder... allow me to destroy those doubts! Any non-vampiric gas or vapor involved that night was non-toxic, non-flammable, entirely unable to kill or enable killing!"

"Oxygen," To4ko pointed out. "Oxygen is in the air, and was involved that night, and is flammable."

Edelweiss put a hand to her face. "...Good grief. Except oxygen, which is technically flammable, fine. It still wasn't used to kill. Must you waste my time with trivialties?"

"Additionally, many trace gases in ordinary air can be toxic in sufficient concentrations," To4ko continued.

"I- blasted furniture, cease your prattling!"

To4ko entirely failed to cease her prattling- and in the meantime, Yayoi was on her phone, calling in some assistance.

DK: ...so that's what i got.  
DK: there's all these fuckin holes in her little definitions, but i can't figure out what the hell to make of em.  
DK: there's gotta be some loophole in it i can use!  
DK: I dunno about that  
DK: Have you tried taking it at face value  
DK: the fuck?  
DK: y'know no, i haven't actually tried just fallin for her lies yet. great idea, sis!  
DK: No, I think it's a distraction  
DK: She's trying to get you to waste time thinking up ways it could be your meatheads, I think  
DK: what?? no, she wants me to think it's her. that's her... whole fuckin thing??  
DK: And what happens if she gets you thinking it has to be someone with a key  
DK: And then runs you ragged forfuckingever proving it's not  
DK: Because it's actually not  
DK: And then when she gets that through your head you just have to give up  
DK: what the fuck kind of asshole psychology is that?  
DK: Asshole psychology?  
DK: fuckin  
DK: like reverse psychology  
DK: cept she's a fuckin asshole  
DK: Wow  
DK: shaddup.  
DK: But seriously  
DK: Try thinking outside the box here  
DK: If she can prove that they didn't escape with a key, then maybe they didn't escape with a key  
DK: no, she had some whole shit about no one but the victims being in the building  
DK: Yeah?  
DK: yeah...?  
DK: So like  
DK: Exactly


	7. Without Love, It Cannot Be Seen

"No one but the victims, huh...?"

There's a subtle difference between the face of a cat toying with its prey, and the face of a cat who'd been toying with its prey right up until the prey pulled out a machine gun. The latter face looks mostly the same, but there's a quaver in the eyes that indicates that the cat is weighing its options. The machine gun is mouse-sized, but... does that matter? Is it worth it to continue playing?

Sitting in one of the pews, now, is a girl in a hospital gown. She's not ordinarily much for moving, but standing next to the pew is her older sister, who helps her to her feet. None of this is real, so when she stands, she stays standing.

"So- the vampire's locked all my guys out of the building, and no one else is inside besides the victims..."

The girl nods, and looks to Gavin. "Hey- Gavin, right? When did you say you got that text?"

X

* * *

O

"Hey, Wu. Rewind that tape a little bit."

"Sorry, the tape?"

"The- fuckin', memory interface whatever the hell. Show that last bit, where she gets her head chopped off."

"Kakakaka! How morbid your interests lean, Murasaki-san!" Girl X cackled.

"Shut the fuck up. The footage, Wu."

Wu didn't seem happy to be bossed around, but she sighed and pressed a few keys. The last few moments of To4ko's memories played- her being decapitated, the vampire smoking, and her vision going black... at 5:29.

O

* * *

X

"Right. Thought so," Miki said. "Gavin got a text from To4ko's phone at 5:31. And X said in red that the contents of her memories are accurate, so... Toshiko's memories end at 5:29. That means... someone _else_ sent that text."

Edelweiss sneered, extending a hand towards Miki. "Who _exactly_ do you think you are, child of man? I don't recall inviting you to this little gathering!"

"The fuck? How come she needs an invitation? You think I'm just gonna sit here and try and solve it all myself?!" Yayoi slammed a hand on the arm of one of the pews, and interposed herself between Miki and the tendril of darkness crawling forth from Edelweiss's hand.

"It's simply poor sportsmanship, don't you think, Yayoiiii? If you want to bring in other detectives, you might as well let the police solve it for you!"

"Other- what? I'm not a goddamn _detective,_ lady!"

Edelweiss scowled. "On the contrary, Yayoi Murasaki. You are most certainly a detective, with all the privileges and restrictions this confers! I object to your bringing in outside assistance!" The dark tendril advanced.

Yayoi stared. "The... fuck's that supposed to- your red shit, that's not supposed to lie! I'm a goddamn _foreman!_ I ain't never been on a police force, and I'm not a private dick or nothin'!"

"Uh," To4ko spoke up, nervously. "She's referring to... the concept of a detective as regards... Knox's Ten Commandments of detective fiction."

"...the fuck?" Yayoi asked.

"Uh... Fours, you're gonna have to fill us in on that one. Gav ain't got a clue what that's all meanin', and I think Boss is gettin' thrown, too."

Yayoi looked to Miki, hopefully, but she only shrugged. And... she looked nervous, as the vampire's darkness continued to crawl through the air in her direction.

To4ko's eyes glazed over a little as she accessed the internet. "If the appearance of that black shadow is any indication... Countess Edelweiss claims that this case follows a set of rules established for telling stories that are fair to the reader. Solvable."

"Absolutely!" Edelweiss thundered. "The truth of this case can be found! Nothing at all is hidden in order to fool you completely! Indeed, you need not be fooled- the simple truth is that I, a powerful vampire queen, decided one night to take victims! It has been plainly told to you!"

"...Repeat it, then," To4ko said. "If you please. This case follows all of Knox's commandments."

Edelweiss grimaced. "...Oho. I cannot- but I will tell you why! Knox's 2nd commandment states 'It is forbidden for supernatural agencies to be employed as a detective technique!' As your dialogue with me, a supernatural agency, is certainly a detective technique being used... this story cannot conform to that notion! Especially as regards the truth- if you're to have any understanding at all, you must acknowledge me as a supernatural being!"

"Cut the crap, goth-for-brains!" Yayoi shouted. The darkness had reached her, and- fuck, it was solid. She pushed against it, but it just split into multiple tendrils, trying to crawl around her.

"...Indeed," To4ko said. "Please- the other nine, then. Barring the second- does this case follow the nine other Commandments?"

Edelweiss looked to Girl X, and Girl X looked to Edelweiss. Something unspoken was said between them, and after a moment's pause...

"...Yes. Apart from the second rule, Knox's rules bind this story! And... kakakaka, let your feeble guesses at unseen ne'er-do-wells be blasted away by your own hubris in attempting to wring concessions from me! Knox's 1st! It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story!"

...shit. That made this harder. Couldn't just be anyone, some random shmuck with no alibi that the cops had no idea about. She'd have to get around the alibis of everyone present. And... she'd have to get around this goddamn dark magic shit, which she couldn't keep away from Miki much longer.

Yayoi hadn't actually seen To4ko smile before. Not properly, anyway- she had her customer service smile, but the girl always seemed uncomfortable, nervous, being at the mercy of others. But- now, she was smiling.

With a sudden movement, To4ko charged out from behind Gavin, wielding- from out of nowhere- a red longsword.

"Understand, then! Knox's 9th! It is permitted for observers to let their own conclusions and interpretations be heard! Miki Murasaki needs no invitation to make her case!"

A flash of red, and the branching darkness emitting from Edelweiss's palm was severed, dissipating into smoke. The Murasakis breathed a sigh of relief.

The vampire shook her hand, the attack upon her darkness apparently having stung her somewhat. "Keh..."

"You... will let her speak, please," To4ko said, her forceful tone slipping back into a polite request at the end.

"Fine!" Edelweiss snapped, darkness swirling around her with a force that forced Girl X to hold tight to her pink beret. "If you think this mere girl will be of any help, she may speak! Do not expect an invalid such as her to pose any danger to the Eternal Mistress of the Earthshattering Typhoon!"

And so... Miki Murasaki opened her mouth.

"Someone else sent that text to Gavin Sakaki, calling him to make sure help arrived soon after the crime was committed. The culprit couldn't be anyone not inside the building, and only two people were in the building... and so, of the people who were in the building and weren't Toshiko, it had to be that person."

To4ko gasped, and the vampire laughed. "Is that so, Miki? Let's hear it, then! How and why would that person do such a thing?! I'll tear your argument to pieces, and you can go back to your hospital bed in shame!"

Miki stalked towards Edelweiss, walking without pain. Yayoi followed close behind, in case she needed help.

"Haruto Hosoo isn't one of onee-chan's employees! He's an outside contractor, working for that White Sky guy, Takahata! And... To4ko's memories were damaged in this attack, right? Wasn't that exactly what Takahata was after? If you turn the chessboard around, and look at who benefited from this happening... the motive is obvious!"

X

* * *

O

"Of course," Wu said, looking annoyed. "Taizo Takahata is obviously under suspicion. We have people questioning him offsite right now. If necessary, we'll bring him in for more... _direct_ questioning, but we'd need more than motive to connect him to the crime. As far as we can tell, he has a solid alibi."

"And his little goon?" Boss growled. "Hell- I _overheard_ the guy on the phone with Takahata, pretty sure- all it'd take is orders. To hell with _Takahata's_ alibi!"

O

* * *

X

A slow clap from the Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew.

"Isn't that fascinating! You've established a motive, I see! Now... exactly how do you propose it was done? You haven't done anything until you've established a method that stands up to the overwhelming power of my truth!"

Miki turned to Yayoi. "You got this, sis?"

Yayoi nodded, and blue flashed as she once again dove into the fray.

"That guy Hosoo was working for Takahata, and they had a plan to get rid of To4ko's incriminating memories! Hosoo fucked with her somehow to make her fall unconscious a bunch, and sabotaged her systems while she was out! Then, to fake up a fall guy, he... went and disguised himself as a vampire! That scene we saw where she saw the vampire over his body- the cape hid everything but Hosoo's shoes! That was actually Hosoo himself, standin' over a dummy with his shoes on or something! Before she could hit him and find the dummy, he put her out again, and put the disguise away! He lay there in a pool of fake blood, and then he... fuckin', quick-changed when she turned her back, and cut her head off! After he did that, he had to make himself look like a victim... so he called Sakaki to make sure medical attention would arrive real quick, and then stabbed himself in the neck to make it look like a vampire bite!"

Yayoi's blue spear was deflected by a cross from Edelweiss. "Foolish! Haruto Hosoo is no quick-change artist! He could not have put on a disguise unnoticed while Toshiko was conscious! Furthermore, To4ko saw an arm grab Haruto and pull him to the side from the doorway! That arm was a real arm, belonging to a person other than himself! Clearly, some other person was in the building at that time, and that person was me!"

With a grunt, Yayoi pushed back with the spear and forced the cross out of the way. "Fine! Hosoo had some kinda accomplice! If he's behind it, he coulda just used his key to let someone in and out- and that person could pose as the damn vampire! Apart from that, it's all the same!"

One would expect the vampire to counter, here, with a truth against such a thing. She might, for instance, say "Hosoo had no accomplice", or "Hosoo was not the culprit", or perhaps something more subtle, with more room to let the detective doubt, and dwell on a theory knocked out but not yet dead.

One would expect such a vicious move from the Oborozuka Vampire. And yet... that is not who struck against Yayoi's blue truth.

As should come as no surprise to longtime readers of works such as this: without love, it cannot be seen.

"Th-that's impossible!"

No red blade intercepted Yayoi's attack. She was tackled, bodily, by White Sky To4ko, and her strike went wide.

Yayoi sprawled, but quickly got back to her feet. "The fuck- dammit, Toshiko, the hell're you doin'?!"

"You're... you're wrong! Haruto... he'd never do something like that!"

Pain and fury were written all over To4ko's normally expressionless face. She was, uh, _really_ pissed off at the idea that Hosoo was the culprit.

"For fuck's sake- where the hell're you gettin' this?" Yayoi asked. "Didn't you just meet the guy last week?"

To4ko sadly shook her head. "That's... no. We've been... he's... not my only, but my most important f-friend." She stole a guilty glance at Gavin.

"Haha, Fours, that's fair. Don't sweat it."

Yayoi frowned. "That's the first I'm hearin' of this, lady. You acted like he was just some coworker, when they sent him here to get you set up."

"Y-yes. He... professionally speaking, he is- he was- not supposed to form attachments. But... he's been working with me for nearly my whole life, and... it's impossible. It's impossible that his care for me was- was just an act! I'm his- he's my-"

Yayoi groaned. "Good grief, Toshiko. You been smoochin' your mechanic?"

An error noise played from her speaker, followed by sputterings of protest. "I- I- that's-"

She rubbed her head. "Listen, maybe this guy had a thing for you, but... that doesn't mean he couldn't do it. Even if he's head over heels for ya, there's stuff that'll make a guy turn coat. What if his boss threatened to fire him if he didn't do this, huh? It'd explain why he'd go as far as stabbin' himself with-"

 _"No!"_ To4ko pleaded. "That's- he wouldn't! He'd- there's no way he wouldn't give up his job before doing that to me!"

"...What exactly has you so sure?" Miki asked. "If you lost all your memories of that place you worked at, wouldn't you forget Hosoo, too?"

"Yeah," Yayoi agreed. "Maybe he just fucked with your head to make himself look more noble than he really is."

To4ko looked pained, for a moment, but then her eyes went wide. "I... no! I... haven't lost all my memories of that place! Or... of him! There are holes all over, but most- most, I still remember! So- so your theory about, about him doing it for Takahata, that doesn't make sense!"

Yayoi frowned. "I dunno. He mighta fucked it up somehow, missed some-"

They were interrupted by a gust of wind, accompanied by Countess Edelweiss's usual high-pitched laughter.

"Kakakakakaaaa! Isn't this _precious?_ You mortals bickering amongst yourselves, trading idle theories... speaking of love, without even a golden longsword to strike with...!"

Yayoi gave her a half-lidded stare. "The whole entire shit are you goin' on about _now?"_

"Put simply... I can't abide this sort of mundanity, you see! Despite my affinity for blood, I must object to attempts to strike at the _heart,_ kakaka!"

"Wh-"

"I will have no more idle chatter on the subject of motivations! White Sky Toshiko is entirely correct in her conclusion- that Haruto Hosoo is not the culprit! _I,_ Countess Rachel Edelweiss, am the one and only culprit! A heartless vampire who feeds on the blood of the innocent!" She stirred up black mist with a powerful wingbeat. "Moreover, I refuse to allow anyone to take another's word for my power! As surely as I stand before you, _I_ will prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that none but I could have done the deed! You need not dismiss anyone's involvement as _psychologically unlikely,_ when _I_ can dismiss it as _fundamentally impossible!"_

"Holy crap," Miki said. "You weren't kidding. She _does_ like to talk."

Edelweiss _swooped,_ that's what it was. To4ko yelped as the vampire flew behind her, striking at- no, _shielding_ her with her cape.

"Don't worry yourself one moment longer, child of children of man. Your precious friend is about to be defended by the Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy herself!"

"I- that's-" To4ko started, unsure how to respond.

"Now!" Edelweiss declared- and the black mist that swirled around her moved away, putting itself between To4ko and Yayoi. Yayoi braced herself for more bullshit metaphor attacks, but... the black mist stopped moving forward, spinning around a circle on the floor. And... from the vortex of mist, a shape rose.

A... skeleton. It was just a skeleton. It had leather boots, shoulder pads, and a black iron helmet- but it was clearly just some skeleton minion she'd just summoned. It was... honestly kind of goofy-looking, not a fraction as intimidating as its mistress.

At least, not until it reached down into the void from which it came, and withdrew a wicked-looking- and familiar-looking- blade.

"This, insignificant worms, is the Khopesh of Somnolence!" Edelweiss said, gesturing to the curved sword from To4ko's memories. "This very blade was used to inflict blackouts on White Sky Toshiko! It is a demonic sword, infused with the power to drain its victims of stamina! It puts those it strikes to sleep! You saw as much in her memories- the vampire drew the Khopesh of Somnolence, stabbed the wall, and she was at that very moment rendered unconscious!"

Yayoi stared at the weird skeleton, which just seemed to be there to hold the sword. The hell was Edelweiss playing at?

"Trip, who's this here citizen of the bone zone, huh?" Gavin asked. "Guy looks like he's seen better days, f'sure."

"The bearer here is irrelevant," Edelweiss said. "It-"

"So's the sword, dumbass," Yayoi interrupted. "You didn't say any of that magic sleep crap in red- so the sword caused the blackouts! So what? Whoever it was just used it as a sword- just, stabbed the parts of her brain in the walls. Great, mystery solved!"

Edelweiss's eyes flashed red. "I wasn't," she said, giving Yayoi a death glare, _"finished!_ Having identified the... murder weapon isn't quite accurate, but the culprit's tool- I will now strike from possibility the involvement of that mortal mechanic!  Haruto Hosoo never touched the Khopesh of Somnolence!"

Gavin looked like he was about to say something, but then... he looked at To4ko, and closed his mouth. Edelweiss caught the movement, though.

"Oh? Gavin, dear! Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

He looked uncomfortable. "Uh- naw, s'just... I mean, I figured maybe there was shenanigans in how you said all that, but, uh... don't wanna put Patches on blast, yeah?"

The vampire's twisted smile persisted. "No, by all means! If he's innocent, carving away lies to reach the truth can only exonerate him, yes?"

He looked over to To4ko, who- after a moment of hesitation- nodded.

"Uh... haha, well, trip... s'just, I mean, he coulda used it without touchin' it, yeah? Like, say Patches put on gloves, or picked it up with a cloth. Or used some kinda machinery to do it, yeah?"

Edelweiss laughed. "Excellent, excellent! Neither of us would be satisfied with such anemic wording, after all!" She fixed Gavin with a cold stare. "The Khopesh of Somnolence was never in Haruto Hosoo's hands! It was not lifted by him! It was not _used_ by him! His hands are entirely clean in this matter!"

The vampire's smug expression- and it was _supremely_ smug- evaporated quickly, however, when she was forced to dodge an attack from behind.

"Don't fuckin' turn your back on me, jackass-feratu!" Yayoi said, swinging a blue stake. "You think I'm gonna fall for your fuckin' distractions? Even leavin' aside an accomplice who coulda done the work for him, you ain't proven that damn sword was the only weapon! The Kopeks or whatever it's called coulda been used to cause _some_ blackouts- the ones that'd been happening earlier- but don't think I missed your tricky-ass wording! You didn't say it was the only thing that was used to cause blackouts!  Hosoo used somethin' else to cause the blackouts that night!"

Edelweiss gritted her teeth and lashed out with a claw, hand glowing red. "Allow me to _remedy_ that oversight, then, detective!  When Toshiko's memories were deleted, no weapon in the building that was not the Khopesh could have been used!"

Yayoi let the claw hit, spinning around and striking with another stake in the same movement. "Weapon?! God damn it, he used somethin' that wasn't a weapon! What kinda moron you think I am?!"

"No object in the building _whatsoever_ apart from the Khopesh could have been used to delete Toshiko's memories! Nor could Haruto Hosoo have done the deed with his bare hands! "

Out of weapons, Yayoi jumped back, out of the vampire's range. "...The fuck? What's with all this 'could have' shit? There's plenty of crap lyin' around he _coulda_ used to fuck her up!"

Edelweiss clicked her tongue. "Was, could have been... the past is set in stone! What has happened has happened, and now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that only what happened is what could have happened!"

"Don't give me that fate bullshit, dammit! Did it happen or not?!"

"...tiresome. You'd like it in red? That which could have happened is what happened, and that which could not have happened did not happen! Irrespective of your preferred metaphysics, these are the rules by which my red truth operates!"

 _Damn_ it. She was running out of loopholes, fast.

"Whyever would you suspect Haruto Hosoo, regardless?" Edelweiss asked. "If he were the culprit, surely he would choose a manner of false victimization less life-threatening! The poor boy- he's in the hospital recovering from severe blood loss, when he might've simply drugged himself! Such a gruesome and risky way of making himself seem a victim, if your wild theory is to be believed!"

"Then- then it wasn't him!" To4ko pleaded. "Murasaki-san, please! Stop this! There has to be another way!"

"Dammit, aren't you paying any damn attention, lady? She's- she's fuckin' with us! All this fancy wordplay bullshit- when she coulda just said he didn't do it!"

"Oh? Is that so, Yayoiiiii?!"

She scowled. "That's it, dammit! If you're so eager to prove it wasn't Hosoo, just _say_ it with your damn red truth! Repeat after me, in red: Haruto Hosoo wasn't involved in the attack!"

Edelweiss made an undignified snorting noise before recovering and delivering her usual laugh. "Ka ka ka...! That would be undeniably false, child of man! Hosoo was very much involved in the attack, as a victim!"

A vein bulged in Yayoi's forehead. "Fuckin'... you know what I meant, dammit!"

"Please," To4ko said, kneeling. "Please- please, tell me it wasn't him! It couldn't have been him!"

Edelweiss smiled. "Oho... you kneel before me, then? You admit that I exist, and that I am the perpetrator behind this incident...?"

To4ko said nothing, her mouth looking for something to say.

Before she could respond, Gavin put a hand on her shoulder. "Chillax, Fours. You don't gotta panic, here. Let Gav take a crack at it."

Edelweiss sneered. "A crack, child of man? What _exactly_ do you mean?"

Gavin shrugged. "Listen, Rae-Rae- you can see Fours is hurtin', yeah? You don't gotta go all or nothin' on this, right?"

She cocked her head to the side, looking at him curiously.

"All I'm sayin' is... Patches didn't hurt her, right? You can tell us in red- he didn't betray her, yeah? You're doin' a number on Fours' heart, here- you can give her a break feelings-ways, amirite?"

Edelweiss took a deep breath, and then... smiled. "...Indeed. I will confirm what you wish to know, if only to ensure you accept me as the culprit of your own will. Haruto Hosoo did no harm to White Sky Toshiko. He did not attack her, and he did not erase her memories. While it is beyond the scope of the red truth to speak directly of such matters as love... to the best of _my_ understanding, he truly loves her, and wishes the best for her. "

To4ko let out a sob, the tension in her body releasing. She collapsed to the floor- and then her head, improperly attached, went rolling a bit, before Gavin fetched it and put it back on. Girl apparently had a habit of losing her head.

Then... Edelweiss turned to Yayoi and Miki. "Satisfied, children of man? Your men have been cleared of suspicion! Haruto Hosoo has been cleared of suspicion! They are the holders of the keys to the closed room- and therefore, _I_ am the only possible suspect remaining!"

The two sisters scrambled back a bit as an explosion of black mist swirled around Edelweiss, hiding Gavin and To4ko from view. Only the vampire's eyes, glowing red, were visible in the darkness.

"Kakakakakakaaaa! Are you ready to praise my noble name, yet, Yayoiiiiiiii?!"


	8. There's No Other Way Out Of It

"...Well, there's this shrunken head," a police officer said.

"This- excuse me?"

The cop held up a gray and terrifying-looking severed head, roughly the size of a baseball, which had been found in the deep pockets of Sakaki's baggy hakama pants. It had a stitched-open grin and black marbles for eyes, and a few people- Rizzini and Wu in particular- took a step back.

"Oh, snap, that's Cranston! You don't gotta worry about Cranston," Sakaki said. "He's a good guy."

Boss stared at him. "Sakaki- what the hell?"

"Trip, that's a heck of a story- listen, I was over in Brazil on account of my buddy's entomology expedition type'a thing, yeah? And I ran into m'dude Silva- you know the guy who won the World Taxidermy Cham-"

"Quiet," Wu snapped. "This- how do you explain this?"

Sakaki quirked an eyebrow. "Trip, Yeah-yeah, that's what Gav was in the middle of doin', dig?"

"No- I mean, how is this connected to the crime?"

Sakaki looked confused. "Uh... ain't? Cranston's been pallin' around with me ever since Silva got hold of that cadaver whatsit from-"

 _"Did you find the weapon?"_ Aya demanded of the cop holding Cranston.

"Negative, ma'am."

Girl X ka-ka-ka'd, which caught Boss by surprise. That girl- she kept forgetting she was even there, until she made some kinda dramatic pronouncement. Scrawny little thing.

"Then, Gavin... can you confirm that Cranston is entirely irrelevant to the proceedings?"

"Haha, yeah, UG, 'less he's been gettin' up to summat I don't know about," he responded.

"And," X proceeded, directing her attention to the cop who'd performed the search, "I suppose it goes without saying that no weapon was found on Gavin Sakaki's person, nor at the crime scene. With his alibi intact, it can be proven that the weapon used to injure Haruto Hosoo was not at the scene of the crime at the time the closed room was broken!"

"Unless there was another accomplice, who Sakaki passed the weapon off to before the cops showed up," Boss pointed out, earning a nod from Wu. It would have been quite a clever loophole, had the red truth- unheard to the assembled mortals- not struck it down.

"So... this theory you've advanced, then-" Wu started, before three people entered through the gash in the plastic.

Two of them were uniformed police officers- their names and faces irrelevant, as much as any police officer on the scene. The third, the man the officers were escorting, was recognizable as Taizo Takahata.

"You got _nothing!"_ Takahata snapped, at... well, whoever seemed to be in charge around here, which was- naturally- the Boss.

"What kinda nothing do I got?" Boss asked. "I ain't said a damn word yet!"

"Quit playing around, Murasaki! These cops've been badgering me all morning over something I'm not even close to involved in!"

"Gonna make me say it, then, huh?" she sighed. "Alright, then- here's what happened. _You_ needed your guy to wipe the shady shit offa Toshiko's memory banks, so you had your people come in and stage an attack. Went and stabbed her half to death to try and get it cleared, and put your own guy in the hospital to throw off suspicion!"

"Which is, of course, nonsense," Girl X interjected. "I've pointed out several reasons such a thing couldn't possibly have taken place."

"You mean you declared a buncha shit with exactly jack and shit in the way of evidence to back it up," Boss corrected.

"You want evidence?" Takahata said, sneering. "First of all- I've been going over my alibi with these fine folks all morning. They made some calls, and it's totally legit. I was at Jesse Chesterton's penthouse party downtown all night long, and there's dozens of witnesses to prove it!"

 _"Damn_ it," Rizzini cursed under his breath.

The cops nodded, confirming, but Boss cut in. "Who the fuck cares about _your_ alibi?! You coulda just ordered your employees to do it! Even if you weren't on the scene, you could still be the culprit!"

"Not possible," Takahata said, grinning.

"The fuck you mean, not possible?!"

Takahata was carrying a briefcase with him- and from that briefcase, he withdrew a manila folder. Inside that folder was a handful of documents- a legal contract.

"Uesawa didn't read the fine print, dollface. Read 'em and weep."

Ken Uesawa sputtered some kind of protest, and moved to snatch the papers. "The- hold the phone, Takahata, what's...?"

Takahata gleefully pointed to a handful of lines on the contract, flipping through the pages to point to some definitions in the legal briefing. There was a passage about the disclosure of confidential information- and a passage about measures to control the dissemination of confidental information- and a bit about obligations to perform maintenance, and another about the definition of proper maintenance... it was circuitous as hell, and didn't jump out on a shallow reading. But...

"Wasn't much to be gained by telling you, but my employee had every legal authority to redact our company's confidential information from the provided system. If this mess hadn't happened, well... his orders were to wipe her as soon as the installation was finished, and walk away. No fuss, no muss. Our lawyers were 100% ready to take on yours, soon as the deed was already done. I woulda had _exactly_ what I wanted, and it all would've been _completely_ legal."

Uesawa's eyes went wide as he read over the contract again. "This... you crafty son of a bitch...!"

"Wh- cripes, that ain't cool, T-man!"

"Crafty son of a- _ain't cool?_ The hell are you two mincin' words for?!" Yayoi yelled at Sakaki and Uesawa. "This guy's total scum! He's the lowest of the low! There's no way he's gonna get away with this!"

"Well, not anymore," Takahata said, smirking. "You know what this means, right? Means this 'motive' you think you have on me... that's dust in the wind, baby. I don't need to cover up a damn _thing._ Whatever the hell happened here... you got no way you can say it was my idea."

"...No," To4ko said, from over on the couch.

Takahata gave her a dirty look. _"You_ got something to say, receptionist?"

She shifted position in order to look him in the eye. "What would've happened if he _didn't_ do what you said? What if he refused?"

Takahata thought for a moment. In that pause, the Boss spoke up. "You're sayin' if Hosoo went against his orders, he'd send someone else to make sure the job got done? And... make an example of him, too?"

"No way, hard hat," Takahata said. "The boy's on the company insurance, and I wouldn't put him in the hospital if I could help it."

"Not if you fired him first," Boss countered.

"Not how it works, lady. On our plan, there's a waiting period before your benefits expire, and we'd have to deal with the hiked up premiums either way."

"...Sounds like you were ready to say that, don't it?" Boss said, pointing a finger.

Takahata shrugged. "I just spent all morning with the cops saying just about the same stuff. I know my business, is all."

"Yeah? So what _was_ your plan, if Hosoo didn't follow through."

A grin. "Didn't have one. Didn't need one. Hosoo's a good kid- does what he's told. Otherwise, I'd fire him. Just an FYI- I gave him a call last night, before whatever this mess was. Said he was in the middle of working on it- right from the horse's mouth."

"Y-you're lying!" To4ko shouted. "He wouldn't!"

Takahata _laughed._ "What, you think he _cared_ about you or something, Toshiko? That's rich."

"He- he did! I know- I know that for a fact!"

Takahata chuckled. "Sure, Hatsune Meek-u. I'm sure he cared about you... like a farmer cares for a pig. Can't help but be nice to it- it's not human, so it doesn't matter how you treat it. Might as well pretend to get along with it, so it'll follow you to the slaughterhouse."

The Boss stomped over to Takahata- and almost grabbed him by the collar, but caught herself at the last minute. Probably wasn't a good idea to rough the guy up in front of the cops. Still, the guy shrank back a little. Boss _loomed._

"Listen, tough guy, if you're here just to harass my client... I can make you want to _not_ be here _real_ quick."

"H-hey, now. You think I _want_ to be here? You miss the cops who got me by the arms? I'm a busy guy, Murasaki!"

Aya Wu, looking like the world's most long-suffering kindergarten teacher, rubbed her temple and pointed at one of the officers flanking Takahata. "You. Take the man outside. I don't need to talk to him _here_ and _now._ "

"Hang on, now," Takahata objected. "You're just gonna keep me here, until...?"

"Until I'm _good and ready,_ yes," Wu affirmed.

"That's illegal! Probably! A violation of my rights! Leggo!" Takahata said, as the officers escorted him outside.

O

* * *

X

"...None of that means anything, yeah?" Yayoi said.

"None of that _means_ anything, Yayoiiii? Ka ka ka ka! I would've thought such an encounter absolutely _dripping_ with meaning!"

Following this taunt, Edelweiss swooped through the air, moving behind Yayoi in a fluid motion. She didn't attack- though perhaps she intended to, before Yayoi swung a sudden stake at her.

"Takahata was talkin' out his ass. None of that was in red, so- what really happened is that he sent some goons to check on Hosoo, make sure he did his job right. He let 'em inside, and didn't tell Toshiko about them- didn't want to make either of 'em suspicious. Then, all the rest of that crap... I dunno what happened to make the goons stop bein' peaceable, but they turned on him and trashed the place."

The vampire laughed. "Nonsense! Without the assistance of one of the victims, no one without a key of their own could leave the building locked behind them! This has been well-established!"

Gavin pointed a finger. "Hold it, Rae-Rae- don't just about everyone got a key of their own? The goons probly had keys to their own places, or whatever, and used some kinda trick to lock up behind 'em."

Edelweiss looked disappointed. "I- honestly, Gavin, dear, _some kind of trick?_ That's hardly in the spirit of things..."

"Counts, don't it?"

Edelweiss sighed. "When I refer to keys, I mean keys to the three doors to this construction site, not any unrelated keys. Truly, child of man... do you really think I would resort to such cheap wordplay?"

Yayoi and Miki's "Abso-fucking- _lutely_ you would" coincided exactly with Gavin's "Yeah, pretty much" and To4ko's nod.

"...Regardless! You propose hostile culprits who turned on Haruto Hosoo, but unless these culprits had vampiric powers, there is no way for such persons to escape! You embarked on this line of reasoning on the basis that Haruto himself had a motive to perform the attack and pose as a victim- in turning him back into an unwilling victim, you destroy your own means of denying my magic! And I have denied _his_ involvement as well! You are _powerless!_ "

"...I'm not," said To4ko, the projected eyes on her facial display widening. "I'm... _not_ powerless. I... there's more than one victim! What if... what if it was me?!"

Edelweiss... glared at her. "...Is that so? You profess that the one person whose testimony is _absolutely_ reliable, with the power of red truth, is the culprit? An _audacious_ move, to be sure..."

Gavin perked up. "Hey, yeah- what if Fours remembered what happened wrong? Maybe someone hacked her, went all Geppeto on her to make 'er do all that stuff with doors, and then changed her memories?"

The vampire swept him off his feet with a _blast_ of red light. "I told you before!  Everything in that testimony is something she really experienced! No false memories exist in her testimony!"

Miki raised one finger. "Maybe so. But you're not above bullshit wording, yeah? If they hacked her sensory inputs... they could play back some faked-up events, so that she... 'really experienced' them, and her memories aren't 'false'..."

Countess Rachel Edelweiss laughed. Not even a condescending "ka ka ka"- a full-body hyena laugh, landing her on the floor. Uncontrollable spasming giggles.

Girl X gave her a look of concern. "My lady... shall I-"

"No... eeheehee... no, no! Let them- ahahaha- let them speak! I... I would dearly love to hear, heehee, their- kakakaka!"

"You _overconfident piece of-_ see how you like this!"

Yayoi charged, ready to stomp with a glowing blue work boot. "Toshiko got hacked! The bastard who did it used her to stab the hell out of Hosoo, and change her own memory with some kinda bullshit hacking thing that doesn't technically count as false memory! It's that easy!"

Edelweiss, howling with laughter louder than ever, did nothing to defend herself.

"...My apologies, my lady," Girl X said, sighing. "Naberius, are you quite ready...?"

Before Yayoi's boot came down, there was a cloud of darkness. Not Edelweiss's normal black mist- a pure blackness, a void that had appeared only once before- to deliver a crushing blow with Knox's 4th. Boot met the flat of a blade, and Yayoi lost her footing. In an instant, she was airborne, launched by an impossibly strong swing of the sword she'd landed on.

"Knox's 4th! It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard-to-understand scientific devices to be used!"

"Onee-chan!" Miki yelled- and just in time, remembered that she could move, diving to break Yayoi's fall. They landed together in a heap, and Yayoi lifted her head, to see...

...A heavyset girl wearing an ostentatious outfit. There was some kind of... open dress dealie, navy blue with a white sort of apron on top. Puffy sleeves, a strange hat that kinda looked like someone had pinned neckties to it, frilly white thigh-highs, and- for fuck's sake, a skintight black bodysuit. It was, absolutely, the single most ridiculous costume Yayoi had ever seen in her life.

The girl wearing the outfit, looking vampiric herself with pale skin and red eyes, brandished a red longsword in Yayoi's direction. She grinned. "Sup? I'm Naberius, first-class priest of the 7th District Repentance Enforcement Agency of the Great Court of Heaven! Nice to meetcha!"

"...Trip, Gav ain't ever met a priest who dressed like that. Even my buddy Kevin-"

"Stow it!" Yayoi snapped, enraged. "The fuck do you mean, no hard-to-understand scientific devices?!"

"I donno, I thought it was pretty clear," Naberius said, as Edelweiss's uncontrollable laughter continued. "Like, no weird sci-fi stuff that's basically magic, y'know?"

Yayoi pointed angrily at To4ko. "Are you fuckin' kidding me? How the fuck does that rule apply to _her?_ She's some kinda convoluted-ass building robot!"

Naberius looked at To4ko and frowned. "Uh... hm."

"Like- gimme a break, here! There's no way her whole situation doesn't matter! There's all the holes in the damn walls, and she's got chunks of memory missing, and there's all those shady-ass blackouts or whatever- it's like, she's the main fuckin' thing that's weird about this!"

Naberius tapped her foot. "...Well, maybe, but you can't just say 'oh, some kind of super science worked around all the evidence'. That's not how you solve a mystery!"

Yayoi folded her arms. "Yeah? Then how the fuck _am_ I supposed to solve the mystery? I'm not some kinda... goddamn... robot expert! If I gotta specify exactly what kind of bullshit hacking got used, I'm never gonna get anywhere!"

"I mean, how about this? You can guess what kind of stuff might've happened, and I'll use this cool sword to eliminate the possibilities!"

"Bullshit!" Yayoi said, cracking her knuckles. "I told you, I ain't a robot expert! Where the fuck would I even start with that?"

"Isn't that the point of the rule?" Miki added. "A mystery isn't fair if you need specialized background knowledge to solve it. It's the same as... the 8th one, right? You can't solve it with clues that aren't presented?"

Yayoi nodded. "Yeah- like, even if I knew jack shit about computers, if I tried to guess all the different ways it coulda happened, I'd be here all damn day!"

Naberius looked lost in thought for a moment, but then perked up. "Gotcha! So... if you had all the technical know-how you needed to understand the cute miss hard-to-understand scientific device over there," (To4ko looked a little taken aback,) "there wouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Uh..."

"I can just... make her not so hard-to-understand! You might not be a robot expert, but me? I'm _exactly_ a robot expert."

"...Really," Yayoi deadpanned.

"Yeah, really! Want it in red? I'm a robot expert, full stop!"

"Then... fuckin', tell us what kind of hacking shit's allowed and not allowed."

"You got it! Here comes Miss Naberius's Science Lesson #1!" Naberius turned to To4ko. "Uh... hey, just checking- you mind if I show them your nudes?"

To4ko, panic-stricken: "I- wh- huh?!?"

"Oh! No, I mean like- y'know, blueprints! To explain how you work!"

"O-oh. Right. I... sure."

Naberius giggled to herself a little, and then produced one of those projector sheet things from approximately nowhere. She gestured to a diagram with her red sword.

"So- you guys already know this, but White Sky Toshiko isn't just that body- and she's not even just her replicant core. She's got a whole spaghetti-style mess of parts all hooked up to each other, designed to sorta go inside the walls of a building like a nervous system. And it's not just, like, actuators and motorized bits and stuff- the wall spaghetti is as much her as the rest of her, and that includes memory storage! In fact- the core unit, which would normally house both memory and processor for an ordinary replicant, is something like 95% dedicated to processing power, whereas the spaghetti stores most of her memory. You can see all those holes in the wall that the Khopesh of Somnolence stabbed into her, see?"

"...Hold it," Yayoi interjected. "That blueprint- that's complete? Everything's hooked up directly, no parts of her construction outside of the site?"

"That'd be a yep, mostly!" Naberius nodded. "She's got exactly one part that isn't physically continuous. That'd be her humanoid body! Her body's really just a drone- it doesn't really run any memory or processing itself, except what's necessary to, like, operate her parts and stuff."

"Wait, wait," Yayoi said. "Her brain's not in her body at _all?"_

"Pretty much!"

Something was weird about that, but she let Naberius keep going.

"So- what you all want to know about is how her memories work, right? So you can make theories about her being hacked and remembering stuff wrong?"

Gavin made a wobbling hand gesture. "S'about right. That's what you're after, yeah, Fours?"

To4ko nodded. "I... I'm willing to make myself the culprit, if I can protect Haruto."

"Wow! That's super-duper romantic!" Naberius said, beaming.

"Gimme a damn break," Yayoi groaned. "Get on with the explaining, already!"

"Sheesh, alright! Didn't anyone tell you the title of the last chapter?"

"...What?"

"Whatever, don't worry about it. So- here's the thing about her memory. It's not really a programmed system- the easiest way to make an artificial intelligence is to use deep learning algorithms to figure out how to store information on its own. It's kind of like the evolutionary process that produced you humans! Messy, random, and totally opaque even to the experts. Plus, her neural architecture is in some ways completely unique to her! Even if they had access, absolutely no one has any way of creating completely fake memories that she never saw!"

"Hold on- what about what I said?" Miki interjected. "Hijacking her sensory inputs, and playing back fake events that she had a real memory of? Like, if someone put a TV screen over her eyes and headphones in her ears?"

"Well, that'd count as stuff she saw... but even though it's possible, let's make this simple, so we don't have to worry about that whole kind of thing. Toshiko's memories are of real things she actually saw happen in front of her, not force-fed illusions! There could be tricks in what she saw, like... I donno, weird stage magic smoke and mirrors, maybe... but anything she saw is something she could've seen if she was a human being. None of those memories are technological fabrications!"

...damn. That locked off a lot of possibilities.

"But hey! There's still ways to tamper with her memory! In fact... there's exactly two ways to do that, so you don't need to think about all the zillions of possibilities. The first one is... pretty obvious! Toshiko's memories can be deleted. Here's the thing, though- she can't reliably delete them herself. It's not like there's some file marked 'to4kos_memory_of_thursday' sitting around on a hard drive somewhere, and you can just go... click! Deleted! It's a tangled mess of conceptual association tables and temporal storage units, distributed all throughout her spaghetti parts! There's ways to figure out what memory is where, but it's, like... _super_ technical. It's like... okay, you live in your own body, but you can't brain-surgery out your own memories, right? With Toshiko, it's a little less tricky than that- she could maybe trial-and-error her way into deleting something by physically destroying her own hardware, doing a lot of collateral damage in the process... but it definitely wouldn't be reliable, and she might accidentally disable herself before even doing what she wanted to do! Deleting memories at all means physically damaging the hardware somehow- stabbing it, exposing it to strong magnets, shorting it out, the usual stuff for messing up computers."

To4ko looked concerned.

"...You okay, Fours?" Gavin asked.

"I... yes. I'm wondering... if perhaps... it fits, doesn't it? All the damage... my memories... if I was trying to forget something..."

Naberius continued. "Of course, brain surgeons exist. A trained replicant technician, for instance, could totally do all that super-technical stuff, and delete exactly what they meant to delete. Haruto is one such technician! And Yayoi- you've got a couple on your staff, but they're on leave. Knox's 1st: It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story! And in this case, that applies to unnamed characters, like all your other workers."

Yayoi narrowed her eyes. "They all have fuckin' _names,_ what's-your-priest."

Naberius twirled her sword. "Technicalities! I'm not allowed to totally give stuff away, so that sorta limits what I can say... but I'm not Edie, so you don't have to worry so much about wordplay that's straight-up lying with the truth. I'm _nice!"_

"If you're so _nice-"_

"Out of all three of your employees on duty, only Unit 9 has any technician training at all. And Unit 9's training is really only enough to follow technical instructions reliably- if he were to try to delete Toshiko's memories on his own, he wouldn't be able to do any better than she could. Oh, and- Toshiko herself knows enough to follow technical instructions, too."

"Hold on," Miki interrupted. "Following instructions- so, not just anyone could follow instructions from a technician?"

"Haha, I mean, anyone _could-_ if the technician made them super detailed step-by-step instructions that didn't call for actually understanding anything about the tech. They'd need to tell their assistant exactly what to do and where, without using any technical jargon."

Yayoi nodded. There were... some things that lined up, there. "You said there were two ways to mess with her memory. What's the other way?"

"Cut and paste!" Naberius said. "This one takes a finer hand- you couldn't delegate it to an assistant who couldn't follow technical instructions. But... well, there are spots where you could physically cut a drive out of the system, and move it to another spot in her memory, so it'd feel like it happened earlier or later."

"...Trip, don't that throw everything out of whack?" Gavin said, suddenly alarmed.

"Shit... yeah," Yayoi said. "That means... that whole damn memory sequence coulda been out of order! We gotta... go over that again, and see if there's any fuckery goin' on if you shuffle it around!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Naberius said. "That's something you can do in _theory,_ but  Toshiko's visual feed comes with a clock, displaying hour-to-minute timestamps. If you move memories around, the timestamps don't change- they're part of the visual data!"

Yayoi sighed relief. "And none of those timestamps jumped backwards or anything, so..."

Wait. No. Wasn't there... there were spots with short blackouts, right? Where it came back during the same minute as before? Shit... was _that_ hiding something?

"Aaaaaand that's pretty much it!" Naberius said, dismissing the projector screen. "As far as what you can do with Toshiko's memories... it's just deleting, and cut-and-paste! You can't hack her- in fact, she took no actions that night that weren't of her own will! You can't put in completely fake memories, and you can't edit any of the content of the memories themselves! Apart from that, she's basically like a human, so... you can't really call her a hard-to-understand scientific device, and that means the 4th stands! Booyeah."

From the floor... the laughter of Countess Edelweiss took on something of a different tone. It was the ka ka kas again- still genuinely amused, but no longer out-of-control laughter born of surprise. She rose to her feet.

 _"Thank_ you, Naberius," she said, drawing herself up to her full height- and then some, stopping at around ten feet tall. "I believe that is all of Knox I will require, but please remain on standby."

"Gotta keep a pretty face around, right?" Naberius said, coyly.

"Th-that may or may not be. But, regardless... I do believe you've set the stage for my final blow."

"Wait- hold the god damn phone," Yayoi said, holding up a hand. "We ain't done thinkin' this through! There's all this shit about missing memories, and shit moved around..."

"Oh, you won't be needing to ponder any of that," Edelweiss said. "Now that you are well-acquainted with the limits of deceptive memory... you can no longer ignore my masterstroke!"

That pipe organ started playing itself again, as a scene from To4ko's memory took shape in the air.

* * *

She turns- she turns, and sees the figure in the doorway. Dark, illuminated only from behind by the floodlamp, as the space heater has yet to warm up to provide its glow. She can see the figure is cloaked in black, tall, maybe wearing a mask- why can't she see its features? There should be some light in the room- a reflection of the light outside, at least! No... is the stranger's shadow blocking the light to the mirror? The mirror-

She turns to look at the mirror. She's been moving slowly, but turning her head is fast, lightning-fast, and what she sees in the mirror... is herself. And she is not large, she's small, petite, built to be nonthreatening. She does not block her own view of the doorway, and yet she does not see that shadowy figure behind her.

And she turns back, lightning-fast, and sees- that shadowy figure. Standing in the doorway, unmoving.

* * *

Edelweiss's grin nearly escaped the sides of her head, fangs gleaming. "Kakakakakaaa! What do you think, everyone?! You now know that this memory could not possibly be a fabrication! The memory of a vampire's missing reflection! Before you, I have proven devils!"

Like _fuck_ she'd proved devils. Yayoi moved in, the now-familiar sensation of the blue stake forming in her hand.

"Don't fuck with me! You just moved out of the way while her goddamn back was turned!"

"Acknowledging my presence, hm...? Insofar as you may identify the vampire in her memories as myself- which is exactly the proper course of action- I did not move from that spot while her back was turned! Though I could have easily done so with my vampiric speed, no human could have moved quickly enough to escape Toshiko's notice! After all, the walls to either side were foggy but clear plastic- had I sidestepped, my shadow would have been seen in the mirror!"

One of Edelweiss's red crosses blocked Yayoi's swing, but Miki crouched low and dove with a strike of her own. "That disguise made you look bigger than you really were! It was collapsible! You just crouched down all small behind her own reflection!"

The vampire laughed, unconcerned. A cross intercepted her attack. "I did not move a single inch! Or any inches, for that matter, in case you fear wordplay! Between the beginning of her turning to look at the mirror, and the time she looked back, I was in the exact same place, without having altered my position in any way!"

Gavin was next, trying again to strike from behind while Yayoi had her distracted. "Nabbers said it, didn't she? What Fours saw coulda been smoke and mirrors! I don't know from Adam 'bout stage magic, but... the mirror was some kinda trick, like a secret TV screen or something!"

Gavin went flying as a cross scooped him up into the air. "It was an ordinary mirror! Angled exactly as you'd expect, with no tricks affecting what it reflected apart from vampiric magic! Toshiko truly saw the doorway, exactly as it was!"

Miki went for a second swing. "Toshiko's memories might've been fine, but we don't have anything confirming that what Aya Wu showed us were really her memories! That device may be 'working as advertised', but we never saw those ads! Wu is the culprit, and used that machine to strategically delete memories and show us fake ones to fill in the blanks!"

This time, Naberius jumped in to defend Edelweiss. "C'mon, kiddo! I'm right here! In case you forgot- Knox's 7th! It is forbidden for the detective to be the culprit! And Aya Wu is of Chinese descent, so for the double whammy, I can pull out the dusty old Knox's 5th: no Chinaman may be involved in the crime! ...Uh, don't ask what that one's about."

Yayoi ignored Naberius and pressed the assault- jumping over a red cross on its way to intercept her. "You fuckin' piece of total dogshit, Edelweiss- you said all that crap about 'you' not movin'! And 'you' ain't the culprit! You didn't move because you were in your damn bed all night! The actual fuckin' culprit moved like we said!"

Edelweiss sneered, and snatched Yayoi's stake with a glowing red claw, crushing it to pieces. "Those red truths in which I specify myself can be altered to substitute 'the culprit, appearing to be a vampire' without losing their power! But, of course, a human culprit could not possibly have done what I did!"

After having her weapon snatched away, Yayoi stumbled back. What the _hell_ was this supposed to be? What the hell kind of mirror trick... the damn vampire was starting to insert herself in the story, but what did that even _mean?_ And- shit, there was no way she could get any of this red crap through in the real world!

There... had to be an angle. A way to defeat another one of her goddamn dirty tricks. And not only that- there had to be some way to use To4ko and Hosoo to defeat the closed room, despite reams of red about the mechanics of her memories and Hosoo's alibi.

 _Fuck,_ she wished she could just punch someone in the head and make the problem go away.

...hang on.

X

* * *

O

"...Hey, Toshiko. Got a question," Yayoi said, walking over to her.

"Yes...?" To4ko asked.

Yayoi put one hand on each side of her head, grabbed, and pulled straight up. To4ko's head came completely clear of her body.

"Question is this," Yayoi said, looking straight into her still-lit eye panel. "How're you feelin' right about now?"

To4ko looked at her- with some alarm- but simply replied "...I'm just fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this time, all the pieces necessary to solve the mystery are in play. Here, the facts should be sufficient to discern the motive and means of the culprit or culprits. Those of you who wish to match wits against the Mistress of Mystery and solve her puzzle before the answers are given may wish to stop here and do their level best to formulate a blue truth that can strike down the vampire.
> 
> The subsequent chapter will not contain the full explanation, but will contain some reasoning that hews close to it, and a great many red truths which should make the true conclusion all but inescapable without spelling it out as such. If, having made an attempt, you find yourself yet uncertain, please proceed- you will have one more chance to stake the creature directly in its bleeding heart, before the detective makes her pronouncement.


	9. Victory

O

* * *

X

"...It's gotta be the blackouts," Yayoi said.

"The blackouts inflicted by the Khopesh of Somnolence, you say...?" Edelweiss said, sneering.

"Yeah- look, you told us in red that the fuckin' sword thing did it, right? Except... you slipped up earlier! I didn't miss that shit, where you switched from talkin' about the blackouts... to taking her memories!"

The vampire's face fell.

"I- I'm sorry?"

Yayoi snapped her fingers. "You set up that sword as the thing that did the blackouts, going on and on about those... but then you started sayin'... uh, Toshiko, gimme a hand?"

"No object in the building whatsoever apart from the Khopesh could have been used to delete my memories," To4ko recalled.

Yayoi nodded. "That's it. Thought you maybe meant it was pullin' double duty, some kinda multitool... but nah, that ain't it. You slipped into sayin' that shit because they're the exact same shit! I never actually saw her black out myself- all I saw was her lyin' on a couch, with Hosoo sayin' her... her fuckin', indicator lights or whatever, that those were fine, and he couldn't find anything wrong with her!"

"I..." To4ko started, but cut herself off.

Yayoi pointed at her. "Hey! You got somethin' to say, say it! I don't got time to fuck around right now!"

"I... do not recall being conscious at that time, if you're saying that... perhaps I was faking it," she said.

"No, dammit, that's exactly my point! You don't _remember!_ If you were fakin' being out, and then you _deleted that memory,_ what you'd remember... is a fuckin' blackout! And I'm saying _all_ those blackouts were just... spots where you were awake, even after you lost your damn head... but you got rid of your memories!"

Edelweiss's mouth was a thin line, and she said nothing.

"...Right. And- I suppose, I could have wiped out my nonvisual memory- memory of... of whatever motive I had, to fake that and hurt him," To4ko said. Making herself the culprit... it was her own idea, but she clearly didn't seem comfortable with it.

"Hold it!" Naberius said, brandishing her red longsword. "White Sky Toshiko is not a trained replicant technician! Any attempt to delete specific memories on her own would cause serious collateral damage!"

"And that's exactly what happened, genius!" Yayoi countered. "You seen the place? It's like a goddamn bomb went off in there!"

Naberius shook her head. "The apparent damage to the construction site is just about what you'd expect from her if she tried to delete just one memory without help. The odds of her getting every single one of the memories she'd need to target to fake all those blackouts... are astronomically low! Knox's 6th: it is forbidden for accident or intuition to be employed as a detective technique!"

"The fuck- that doesn't count, does it? I ain't the one using accident- it's the culprit! The culprit's allowed to get lucky, right?!"

Edelweiss laughed. "Very well! If you aim to circumvent Knox... allow me to stand in his place! White Sky Toshiko did not have abnormal luck that night!"

Yayoi swore under her breath. Then, for good measure, she swore aloud.

"Hey," Miki said, behind her. "Don't worry about it, sis. I got this."

"...You got this?"

"Well... maybe. Even if it doesn't work... the red they'll need to deny it should do some serious heavy lifting," Miki said. She gestured to one arm. "Pretty much the only way I'm gonna be doing any of that, so..."

"Hey, you got ideas?" Naberius asked. "Come at me, then!"

Miki smirked, and then, drawing a blue blade... spun on her heel and charged the other way.

 _"You've_ been awfully quiet," she said, bearing down on Gavin. "Who the hell are you supposed to be, exactly? My sister just said you were... Toshiko's friend?"

Gavin backed away, trying to stay out of the sword's reach. "H-hey! Slow your roll, Mouse! I ain't-"

"You could be a replicant technician, for all I know! If you're a replicant technician-"

"Trip, whoa! Gav don't know anything about computers, honest!"

"Then you know one! You know a guy, right? All you need to do is be a point of contact- get someone on the outside to give her instructions on how to delete her memories, just by talking loudly through the walls!"

He backed away from her wild swings. "Uh... dang, I mean, I coulda dialed up Hashizawa, I guess, but- but I didn't! Honest! You can check Gav's call history, or hers- it'll show I didn't ring anyone up that night, 'sides after 5:30!"

"Call history is falsifiable," Miki said, planting her sword in the ground and turning to face Edelweiss. "Let's reconcile this with the available evidence. We know that as far as _you_ know, he really loves her, and didn't hurt her..." but those two things aren't in direct contradiction with trying to obey his boss out of fear. It's just... that he didn't succeed."

"...This is nothing," Edelweiss sneered. "You don't have a theory- just a formless collection of guesses!"

"Fine," Miki said, drawing her sword. "Then... let's go over the plan. To save money on legal fees, Taizo Takahata ordered Hosoo to pass it off as a vampire attack. He sent an accomplice from the company to pose as a vampire, and Hosoo set up simple instructions for that person. Naberius said magnets could be used to delete her memories- Hosoo spray-painted those X marks on the outside of the building, to mark where a strong magnet could be used to blank out hard drives from the outside! His own accomplice would follow the simple instructions 'hold the magnet over the red Xs', to finish the job from the outside and make him seem impossibly locked in."

Gavin looked confused. "Uh... I guess, but... he didn't do that?"

"Indeed!" Edelweiss said, summoning a cross. "Haruto Hosoo did no harm to White Sky Toshiko, nor did he erase her memories! As has been established!"

"The accomplice did all the dirty work, obviously," Miki said.

"Absolutely not!" Edelweiss snarled. "Haruto Hosoo was the only trained replicant technician who entered the building that night! Even if you propose an accomplice did work under his direction, that person could not have performed the-"

She stopped herself. "...Er, that person... such a person..."

"Having trouble, bloodsucker?" Miki asked, smirking.

"...Nngh... no matter! I... I can strike this down easily! No person working on behalf of Taizo Takahata did any harm to White Sky Toshiko or Haruto Hosoo that night!"

Miki grinned. "Very interesting," she said. "Thanks for volunteering that... but I don't need it."

"Wh-"

A flash of blue. "Whatever accomplice Hosoo might've had lined up, they didn't get their chance! This is where Gavin comes in: Toshiko discovered Hosoo's plot! She attacked him in self-defense... but she was so heartbroken by the betrayal, that she decided to try and make it like it never happened! She got in contact with Gavin Sakaki, who either conceals technical training, or called in Rin Hashizawa, the Ultimate Roboticist, to help! Working together and using their expertise, Toshiko deleted her own memories of the incident, so she wouldn't have to remember Haruto's betrayal! On top of that, she had- well, I guess it'd have to have been both Rin and Gavin, with Gavin posing as the vampire and Rin not entering the building while providing technical instructions- she had her accomplices finish Haruto's plot to make it seem like it was the doing of a local urban legend, to make sure Hosoo didn't get in trouble for his failed betrayal."

Silence in the room. A blue blade was held to the vampire's throat.

"...You sure, Miki?" Yayoi asked. She'd been hanging back, trusting that she knew what she was doing, but... something about this seemed wrong.

For instance, To4ko had dropped to her knees. "N-no. No, that's..."

"Just sayin' 'trip' ain't gonna cut it, here..." Gavin said, stunned.

Miki said nothing. She stared down Edelweiss, holding the sword steady. If the vampire made a single move, that blue point would dig into her throat.

And yet she moved. A quiet laugh, but pronounced enough to cause the blade to press into her throat, and draw blood.

"M-my lady...!" Girl X said, panicked. She and Naberius moved to help their mistress- but Edelweiss held up a hand, gesturing for them to stop.

"Where did you get that sword, I wonder...?" Edelweiss said, staring Miki down. "A gift from the Witch of Miracles, perhaps? Is this... the sort of weapon you mean to slay me with?"

Miki didn't move a muscle. Her face contorted with the strain of holding up the sword, but it remained steady- now with slight purchase in her neck.

"That blade... perhaps you don't understand its weight, young as you are. You haven't yet lived a thousand years, as I have. Who has led you to believe a miracle can be attained if enough suffering is created?"

With every word, every movement of her throat, Miki's sword cut imperceptibly deeper. Blood ran down Edelweiss's neck- and down the blade itself, beginning to stain it red.

"This cuts you. It's the truth. That's how it works, right?"

All trace of mirth was gone from Edelweiss's face. Her expression was fixed in a cruel grin, but her eyes betrayed no amusement.

"Child of man... if you would tear apart the heart itself... if you would destroy that which feeds my unending hunger for blood..."

Gavin looked over at Miki. "H-hey, Mouse... it's, uh... I mean, you really want that to be how it went down? I mean... look at Fours, yeah?"

To4ko had collapsed to the floor. She mouthed "no" over and over, shaking her head.

"Like... the perp ain't Gav, yeah? You're makin' a mistake, here, somewhere."

Miki held the blade fast. "If it wasn't you, it was some other skilled accomplice. Don't you see it turning red?"

Was this... really it? Yayoi couldn't help but feel proud of her sister for finally landing a blow on that thing, but... it was definitely an ugly explanation. And... hell, this was all some kinda weird-ass metaphor-scape, but still- she could get hurt, if this didn't go how she planned. What would it even mean for her to get hurt, here? Should she be trying to hold her back, take on the vampire herself?

Well, _that_ wouldn't work out. She could barely even follow Miki's thought process, here. Her little sister was... well, probably a lot smarter than her, she had to admit. She looked like she knew what she was doing- if she tried to jump in, she could fuck something up.

"...Very well, then. If you are determined to bring tragedy to bear against the Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy herself... I will permit you to _drown_ in your hubris!"

There was no sign before she moved- no shifting of weight that would've given Miki an indication of when to strike. She simply floated backwards, out of reach, holding one hand to her neck to staunch the bleeding. And then, from the black gloom of the cathedral ceiling, red lightning struck.

"White Sky Toshiko did not attack Haruto Hosoo! At no time did she discover any facts which would have led her to believe he intended her harm! I, Countess Rachel Edelweiss, Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew, attacked him, in order to drink his blood! There was no betrayal between lovers!"

Miki was thrown off her feet by the blast, her sword going flying. Before they could shatter on the ground, Yayoi caught the both of them.

"Nnnngah...! Any facts?! Is this some kinda fuckin' joke? She got confused somehow, or someone lied to her! Maybe Haruto was innocent, but she got mixed up anyway!"

A bolt from the red. "Neither facts nor fabrications led her to any such conclusions, mistaken or otherwise!"

That bolt was a direct hit to the blade, which- save for a few red splinters where it'd drawn Edelweiss's blood- disintegrated.

"...Shit. Sis, let's back off for a sec-"

Agh- fuck- ow! Miki struggled out of her grasp, and charged for Edelweiss, fury on her face.

"No! I'm right, dammit! I had you! It's... that 'intended her harm' thing! _She_ thought that _he_ thought that he was doing what was best for her, not harming her! "

"Haruto Hosoo was fully aware that deleting all of White Sky Toshiko's memories of her old facility would cause her serious mental and emotional harm! Toshiko herself was fully aware that he was fully aware of this!"

Miki took the lightningbolt head on, her sword disappearing as she got fried.

"MIKI!"

She'd been blasted back some distance, but- though charred- she stayed on her feet.

"Alright, then... fuck! I've... I've got this!"

Yayoi stepped in front of her. "You _don't_ got this. You're fucking it up somehow, and you can't keep goin' at it alone! We gotta back off and figure somethin' out!"

"NO!" Miki shouted, her voice breaking. "I can do this! I can do _something,_ dammit! I _won't_ just sit around and be useless! I'm _done_ with that!"

...There was more going on here than her just being frustrated by Edelweiss, wasn't there?

Caught off-guard, Yayoi failed to grab her as she charged past again, blue once again shining in her hand.

"One of Toshiko's other friends! Someone _else_ who got tricked or figured out Hosoo's intent! That person was there that night, in the deleted memories, and attacked Hosoo to defend their friend! And after Toshiko explained that it was a mistake, they worked together to cover everything up! "

Edelweiss's expression twisted into a cruel smile as she unleashed another bolt. "The culprit did not misunderstand anything! No mistakes were made that night! Everything proceeded according to «plan!»"

"«Plan» means keikaku," Gavin helpfully pointed out.

The bolt... struck Miki's sword, and rather than break it, began to course through it, causing it to crackle with red electricity. She kept running towards Edelweiss.

"Fine! The culprit didn't make any mistakes- they had some kind of grudge against Hosoo and came up with an excuse to get him hurt and cover up their own involvement!"

"...Ah? Enchanting a blade with red lightning... a fascinating idea! Naberius, if you would? No one mentioned in the story so far has or has had any sort of grudge against Haruto Hosoo!"

A bolt struck out and hit Naberius's red longsword, and she dashed forward with electricity crackling around it. "You got it, Edie! Knox's 1st! It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story!"

Edelweiss unleashed another bolt, supercharging Naberius's sword. "Let this rule extend to accomplices as well! Those characters mentioned in the early part of the story are as follows: Yayoi Murasaki! Miki Murasaki! White Sky Toshiko! Gavin Sakaki! Ray Rizzini! "Guns" Nakada! Unit 9 Yutani! Haruto Hosoo! Ken Uesawa! Taizo Takahata! Aya Wu! Unidentified Girl X! And lastly, Countess Rachel Edelweiss, Eternal Mistress of the Earthshattering Typhoon and Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew, Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy!"

Electric blades met, and there was a blinding flash of red accompanied by an earth-shattering thunderclap. The senses were completely blown away, and when they returned... Miki Murasaki

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


was dust on the wind.

With every subsequent "ka", the temperature of Yayoi's blood rose. She couldn't move- she didn't have any reaction prepared for what to do when someone unceremoniously annihilated her only sister. That wasn't something that _happened._ Each "ka", though, tilted her thinking a little further towards a concrete response. The noises drove her to a white-hot crystal clarity- that the action to be taken next was to _beat the absolute hell_ out of that _complete piece of shit_ up there.

Her body moved without thought, and she couldn't hear her own screams of fury as she charged- everyone was still partially deafened from the blast of lightning. Somehow, her legs carried her off the ground and up into the air and she _landed_ on the vampire, driving her to the ground.

There were no audible words, so there was no blue weapon. There was just punching.

Somewhere between punches twenty and twenty-four, another thought managed to squeeze its way into her head. That thought was: _wait, this isn't real. She didn't_ actually _just kill Miki._ What _did_ just happen?

X

* * *

O

DK: So it'd have to be like  
DK: Someone else who convinced her to do it somehow  
DK: Not sure exactly how or why  
DK: i guess, but my head's still pretty fucked with here.  
DK: who would that even be? what kinda loony would come up with some sorta impossible locked room murder shit?  
DK: wouldn't it have been easier to make it look like it coulda been anyone?  
DK: Hm yeah  
DK: If I didn't know better, I'd say the culprit was some kind of  
Connection error. Please reconnect to the wireless network to resume communications.

"...Uh, Uesawa? What's goin' on with the wireless?"

As a rumble sounded in the distance, Uesawa took a look at his phone. "...Looks like that lightning strike just hit the cell tower again. I keep tellin' those guys to proof the damn thing, but they keep sayin' it's cheaper to reset it whenever it gets hit... give it ten, fifteen minutes."

While the Boss had been texting her sister, the detective had hooked up Yutani to the REA mind-reading machine. There'd been some protest at first- since he had an alibi with the inn and all- but she'd pressed the issue and hooked him up. His testimony... seemed to be completely clear. His memories showed exactly what he claimed- he'd been at the inn all night, unplugging once to swap to the other battery. He'd spent most of that time surfing the web and running system diagnostics, until he got a call from Sakaki asking him to hurry to the site.

"...This is useless," Wu said.

"Like I said," Yutani pointed out.

"No, I mean...this is useless. Useless! No solid evidence in any direction, except that it couldn't have possibly been _anyone_ involved without there being some kind of ridiculous chain of lies and coverups by half the people here."

"Ka ka ka! How do you know that isn't the case, hm?"

One of the officers on the scene stopped taking pictures of the scene as Wu pointed a finger at Girl X. _"You_ shut up. What are you even doing here, anyway?"

Girl X's expression couldn't be seen past her mask. "Oh, I'm simply an enthusiast- a gawker, mayhaps. Isn't this grisly scene _exciting?_ "

Wu rubbed her head. "Miss, with all due- with whatever respect it is you're due, it's not exciting to not know what's going on when it's your _job_ to figure out what's going on."

"Not every case need be solved, Detective Wu! The legacy of a famous unsolved case can bear more glory than a mere arrest!"

Wu gritted her teeth. "That's _not-_ I'm not interested in- ugh."

"'Pologies," Uesawa said. "X-chan here is just like that."

Girl X put her hands on her hips. "Like _what,_ exactly? Are you insinuating something about a loyal customer?"

"Gah- stop. Stop it. This is... that's enough," Wu said. "We've recorded all the testimonies, collected all the material evidence... there's absolutely no reason I need to still be here."

Uesawa smiled. "So the folks I hired can get back to work fixing the damage?"

 _"Yes,"_ Wu said, closing up the memory playback device. "We're going to go to the Toyoko Inn to confirm Ray Rizzini's alibi, and... you." She pointed at the Boss, and at Nakada, who was downing a bottle of something on the other end of the room. "Where were you staying?"

"It's, uh... one of those western-style places. Holy Day Inn, or something?"

"Do you have the address?"

Boss did have it written down, and she copied it out onto the back of the receipt for Nakada's breakfast burrito from this morning.

"...Okay. We'll confirm your alibis there-"

"And you will find those alibis entirely satisfactory," Girl X added.

"-we'll confirm your alibis there, and then... as soon as the other victim is awake and able to testify, we'll interview him. If you have any new information on the case-"

"Which you won't," Girl X added.

 _"-if you have any new information on the case,_ contact us at our downtown office."

Wu stood up, collected her various officers, and... well, she didn't seem happy. There was clearly a part of her that wanted this _solved, now._ There was something in her eyes- not quite defeat, but an acknowledgment that victory would not come on the terms of a genius detective figuring everything out. Ultimately, she left the building. There was no longer a police presence. It wasn't visible to the boss, but Girl X surely smiled behind the mask.

Let us not feel over-sorry for Ms. Aya Wu. Given the evidence that was available to humans, behind the veil of anti-magic toxin, it was the correct decision to give up. In a world where the truth is unknown, too many subtleties impede reasoning. To her, there can be no certainty about lockpicking, creased plastic, alibis in the dead of night. She must contend with a world where the truth comes in probabilities, wherein a clever criminal may commit a crime which- if not perfect- approaches perfection, losing the trail of truth in the storm of possibility.

And so she left, taking the eye of the law with her.

And... at that time, Ken Uesawa handed Unit 9 Yutani a folded piece of paper.

"...What's this?" he asked.

"Just something I was asked to pass on to you," he said.

Boss shot him a look. "Wait. What's- the hell is that? Passed on by who? Why're you givin' it to him _now?"_

Girl X laughed. "Oh, don't be so alarmed, Yayoi! This isn't new information. Anyone who deduced the motive could have imagined the message's contents, and assumed it already passed along in some form. It's not necessary to actually see it be divulged."

"Yeah, you're talkin' gibberish again," Boss said. "Yutani, open up the damn note."

Yutani complied, using one of his smaller and more dextrous arms. The folded paper contained... to Boss's eyes, a load of gibberish yet more gibberish than the merely gibberesque gibberish uttered by Girl X. A random assortment of numbers and letters, apparently, scrawled down in hasty but neat penmanship.

"...S'passwords," Yutani said. "Installation permissions."

"I was told you'd know what to do with these," Uesawa said, winking.

"No, no, hold the damn phone!" Boss objected. "Is this some kind of fucking- if it's a joke, I don't get it! What the hell is this shady crap?!"

"Installation permissions," Yutani repeated. "For the client."

"Wh- for Toshiko? The hell...?"

Uesawa nodded. "Basically... that stuff's all you folks should need to complete her installation without Hosoo. He's in the hospital, so he can't exactly do it himself. You got the manual, right?"

Yutani nodded. "We have the manual."

"Hold it, hold it, hold it! What's- didn't he say he wasn't allowed to give that crap out?" Boss objected.

"Sure," Uesawa said. "But he can write it down to remind himself, that's totally allowed. And if he _lost_ it somehow, then..."

"Wait, hold on a mo'," Sakaki said. "There wasn't anything like that on Patches when I checked him out earlier! Where was...?"

"An excellent question, Gavin!" Girl X said, clapping. "I wonder what the answer might be."

Boss fixed Uesawa with a glare. "Alright, what the hell is actually goin' on here? That weirdo waif's been runnin' around sayin' ominous crap this whole time, and you've been makin' excuses for her... I don't buy that she's just some cryptid-hunting kook pokin' her nose in on shit that ain't her business!"

Uesawa put up his hands. "Hey, don't ask me. Unidentified Girl X here is just a district regular."

"And- honestly, _cryptid hunter?_ Please don't insult me- I only believe in supernatural entities whose existence has been empirically verified- such as Countess Edelweiss, the Oborozuka Vampire," Girl X said.

"No, no, fuck that! Quit playin' dumb! This is _your_ building, old man! Your money, your employee, your weird secret note you wouldn't let the cops see- and your creepy little niece or whatever the hell- you're involved in somethin' here! You're gonna tell me what this is all about _right now!"_

O

* * *

X

"...Well, then. You got me," Uesawa said.

"Wh-"

Ken Uesawa was there in the cathedral, dressed up like- like a goddamn butler, of all things. Black instead of white, with his blue bandanna tucked into his collar like some kind of ascot. And with... a pair of bite marks on his neck.

"As furniture which serves the vampire queen of Oborozuka, I am not empowered to do anything which she could not have done on her own- which is why my role may have gone unnoticed until now," he said.

"Fuckin'... why're you talkin' like that, all fancy? Furniture?! The hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Uesawa shrugged. "Milady made a point of following a certain set of rules, in employing my aid. While I was undoubtedly at her service, saving her some expense and exertion, I was not to do anything that she, as the culprit behind these attacks, was not capable of doing on her own. It is therefore permitted to pay me no mind. You may feel free to imagine me uninvolved in the execution of her will, without affecting your reasoning."

"The- the execution of her- god damn it, stop sayin' so much crazy crap!" Yayoi sputtered.

"Naw, I get it," Gavin said. "Like, you're sayin' you were an accomplice, but you didn't gotta be for it to work, yeah?" He wasn't sure what to make of Uesawa's admission, but... hey, he probly had a good reason.

Edelweiss's shadow loomed- aw, hell, she was doing the giant thing again. Still holding her neck where Miki cut into it, though.

"Dearest Uesawa, please! You were instrumental in bringing these victims to my attention- were it not for you, I would have remained unaware of the juicy morsels unguarded at night on the outskirts of town!"

Naberius smirked. "Except he didn't tell you one was a replicant with no blood, huh?"

"I-Irrelevant!" Edelweiss proclaimed.

"My apologies for that... error, milady," Uesawa said.

"No, no, hold the fuck up," Yayoi interjected, shaking her head. "What the hell is with you and... everyone talking all proper in this place? Uesawa always talked straight with me, and X over there's more like _you_ than whatever demure-ass servant girl thing you have her bein' in here. And..." She looked at the skeleton holding the Khopesh, who hadn't moved or said anything the whole time. "...I don't even know why you have a goddamn skeleton here. Is this some kinda fucked up Halloween party?"

"Hey, I talk normal!" Naberius said.

"That's debatable," Yayoi pointed out.

Edelweiss huffed. "Perhaps I am simply entitled to enforce certain _stylistic conventions_ for my servants! Did you think of that?"

"I thought of you're full of shit, if that counts," Yayoi said.

A laugh. "No matter! Uesawa, please, serve the drinks!"

_...What?_

"Certainly, milady," Uesawa said, producing- a tray of red wine glasses, from approximately nowhere. Also from approximately nowhere, a string section started playing a cheery tune in concert with the self-playing organ.

Yayoi snarled, looking around for an unseen orchestra. "Hey, what's this supposed to be?"

Edelweiss laughed. "Why, dearest Yayoiiii! It's merely the live- or more approriately, _undead_ music being played at the celebration that now commences!"

The cathedral, previously dimly lit, with shadows lurking in the corners, suddenly came alive with dancing golden lights. Naberius started clapping.

"Trip, s'this a party?" Gavin asked. "Kinda thought the end of this was just us gettin' eaten, what with the creepy vibe."

"Indeed, this is a party!" Edelweiss declared. "It is a party to celebrate my victory! The detective has left the building, unable to explain my great deeds with the work of mere humans! That frail hope of a human truth vanishes into darkness, and the eternal night of my reign falls!"

"Oh, _fuck_ this," Yayoi said. "You're celebratin' too early, dammit! I'm not done with you!"

KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA!

The music didn't stop, despite the quake that rocked the cathedral. Edelweiss rose into the air, brandishing a blood-red cane with a bat-winged head.

"Au contraire, Murasaki-san! Do you not understand? The detective has given up! My power has been acknowledged! With her surrender, consensus reality is mine to command! There are no more competing truths- and so history may be written by the victor! And the victor... is me!"

Naberius pumped a fist. "Yeah, Edie! You tell her!"

Yayoi cracked her knuckles. "I told you, I'm still here, dammit! You don't get to declare vic-"

"I was there! I erased Toshiko's memories!"

"You piece of- You just said that 'I' is the same thing as 'whoever the culprit is'!"

Edelweiss's cruel grin seemed to almost split her face in two.

"Exactly! I am the culprit! I masterminded the entire scheme! The culprit, appearing to be a vampire, is me!"

"Quit spittin' goddamn tautologies! I ain't fallin' for it!"

"Should I perhaps use a firmer hand...? The vampire was no mere illusion! It was me! The culprit does not only appear to be a vampire- she believes herself to be one!"

...Wait, the _fuck?_

" _I_ spilled blood that night! _I_ decapitated Toshiko, and Hosoo's wounds were inflicted by my own real teeth! I can say whatever I like, now- the truth has become me!"

KA KA KA KA KA KA KA KA!

"That's- that's bullshit! You actually fuckin _bit-_ quit talkin' out your ass! You ain't won yet!"

"Hold up," Gavin said. "Them bite marks- I saw those, and there ain't no way human teeth was what went to town there!"

"Thank you, Gavin! You are precisely right! His wounds could not have been made by human teeth! I am a vampire, with long and wicked fangs with which I may bite into my prey! Those are the only teeth which could have been used, as the weapon used has already been mentioned in the story!"

"That's pretty conclusive," Naberius said, nodding. "It's pretty much an extended version of the first rule, get it? The murder weapon has to be mentioned, too, in this one! Edie's pretty great, isn't she?"

Gavin looked impressed. "...Trip, I can't believe I'm all sayin' this, but... I think that kinda cinches it, yeah? There's, uh... there's f'real a vampire, then...?"

"Shut it, Sakaki!" Yayoi yelled. "This... she's not..."

And then...

No.

No, this had to be some kind of fucking joke. If that was true...

Wait, that meant- why would- it'd be because- but that'd make... no, duh, of course she'd- well, no, that was still weird, but- it could be like... it _had_ to be like... if all that was true...

Fuck, she _had_ won, hadn't she? 'Cept... that didn't mean that Yayoi Murasaki had lost.

"Hey!"

"Still hollering like an ape, child of man?" the vampire asked. "Please, now. Let us keep this lovely celebration civil!"

Uesawa came up to her and offered her a glass of red wine, which- hell, that was probably blood. She took it... and shattered it on the floor. The music ground to a halt.

"You don't have any god damn metaphysical power to change what happened! What happened is just what _happened,_ dammit! Even if there's some dumbass rule about the detective giving up... you said that shit yourself!  I am most certainly a detective, so as long as I don't give in, you can only use red to talk about the real-ass hard facts of the case!"

"Naturally, I _am_ discussing such things!" Edelweiss said, a sneer on her face. "The facts of the case are exactly as I say they are! You accuse me again and again of trying to deceive you, when I have only spoken the plain truth about the culprit's identity!"

Yayoi's boot crunched the broken wine glass underfoot. "Like hell you have, ya delusional little creep! Maybe some of the shit you're spinning holds up, but let's get one thing straight!"

"Straight?" Edelweiss said, laughing. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"

Yayoi ignored her, and pointed an accusing finger at... Unidentified Girl X.

"Long story short, whoever you are... you ain't a vampire!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, dear reader, you are no longer the detective's ally. The detective is racing towards a conclusion- can you reach it before she can? This is your last chance to steal the glory as a vampire slayer...!


	10. WRECKING CREW '95

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Herein, the vampire is slain by one other than the reader. Have you slain her yourself, yet? If not, please congratulate Yayoi Murasaki for her superior fortitude.

It is traditional for the detective, having stumbled upon the golden truth of the tale, to have a golden longsword bestowed upon them, acknowledging their accomplishment.

Yayoi Murasaki has not received any training in swordplay, and so such a weapon would be wasted on her. Indeed, even with the increased reach it would give her, there is no way such a thing could enable her to outmaneuver a vampire, a creature that moves at the speed of darkness.

Instead, the golden nail gun in her hand fired a bolt. Nail guns, typically, are not known for firing projectiles at the speed of light- and so it was trivial for the vampire queen of Oborozuka to dodge out of the way.

And yet she did not, because the golden nail curved in midair, drawing a streak of light behind it as it plunged through Countess Edelweiss's left hand and pinned it to a black marble column.

"G-gah! What- what is the meaning of this?!"

Girl X nervously clasped her hands, and Naberius gasped. "No... no way! Isn't that... isn't it only Pendragon's Memorial Troops who can do something like that?! The... Siesta Sisters?"

"Don't you say a god damn word about sisters!" Yayoi barked. "And siesta time is over, dammit!"

"It's- ngh," Edelweiss faltered, trying to pull her hand away from the pillar to no avail. "It's Chiester, my dear," she said, looking at Naberius in irritation.

"I don't give a damn, lady! This fuckin' _game_ of yours is over, and it's time to get back to work!" Yayoi looked over her shoulder, at where Gavin was helping To4ko stand. "Sakaki! Take your friend and get the hell out of here! And tell those good-for-nothin' meatheads they're on the clock!"

Gavin saluted. "10-4, Boss!"

Then he looked around, noticing there were no exits to the building. "Uh... how's Gav s'posed to do that, 'zactly?"

Yayoi pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's- s'a goddamn crazy metaphor palace, how should I know? It doesn't matter! Just... will yourself back into reality or some shit, I don't know!"

To4ko whispered something into Gavin's ear, and he went "Ohhhhhhhh!" before disappearing. The heck did she even... gah. Didn't matter.

Edelweiss hung by her hand from the golden nail, managing to maintain a dignified bearing despite looking unavoidably like a schoolchild who knew the answer to the teacher's problem- and despite the blood still slowly dripping from her neck.

"Well, then... you think you understand, then, child of man? You think your gold truth unravels me? What if, then, I am not a vampire, but a pure spirit of darkness, taking the form of a vampire for her own amusement?"

"Shut up," Yayoi said, ignoring her. She pointed a finger at Girl X, who continued clutching her left hand. "You. You ain't a vampire. You're just some kinda touched-in-the-head _witch_ goin' around fuckin' with all our heads! That vampire's just an illusion!"

"...Hm? No, no," Edelweiss said, as Girl X remained silent. "That is simply my handmaiden! She is of no conse-"

"Didn't I just say shut up?" Yayoi snapped. "I ain't talkin' to you right now. I'm talkin' to X."

Girl X shuddered. "...Please. No."

"What's with your hand, huh? Why're you holdin' on to it like that? Lemme see!"

"There's no reason for you to let her see!" Edelweiss hissed. "Do not move, my pet."

"You're the culprit," Yayoi said. "Human... whatever your actual name is. That hand, with the whatever the fuck scribble you drew on there, that wasn't _summoning_ Edelweiss. She's always just been _you."_

Girl X squirmed. "N-no! You mustn't...!"

"She cannot prove anything of the sort," Edelweiss spat, her voice growing hoarse. "Do not move! I am your mistress! Your greatest and only Lady!"

Yayoi chuckled. "Mistress? Lady? Of, what was it? A typhoon, or somethin'? Dew? Just water, yeah?"

"No- no, please-!"

"Stow it. I can see through you like clear water, kid."

"You have no proof!" Edelweiss shouted. Speaking was becoming difficult for her- every movement of her throat caused more blood to drip. "You have nothing! Nothing that connects her to the crime! She is not the culprit! I am! Cease this prattl- *cough* *cough*!"

Yayoi kneeled down and put a hand on Girl X's shoulder. "Look... I don't have the first clue what the hell's goin' on in your head. But vampires ain't real, and you _know_ a vampire didn't do this."

"..."

"I forbid you from speaking to my servant, Yayoi Murasaki! I forbid you from laying a hand on her! You will not move her hand!"

Yayoi smiled. "S'cause that nail's pierced through it, yeah? You don't want me to see it bleedin'?"

Girl X did not move.

"...'course, I don't need to see it. Because that hand's not the only hit that landed tonight."

Edelweiss's eyes went wide, and her free hand went to her throat, from which blood dripped- the mark of Miki's attack.

Too late. Yayoi pointed at the... the scarf dealie, the cravat, the cloth around Girl X's neck. The formerly white fabric, finally, began to show a growing red stain, bleeding through from beneath.

X

* * *

⦻

The Skeleton and the Ghost sat in two chairs, both nervous but less nervous for holding each other's hands. They both watched the man in the chair for a reaction.

"...Well, I'm glad you told me," the Butler said. "What exactly can we do about it?"

"I don't _know,"_ the Skeleton repeated. "If I don't do it- they might not find out right away, but it'll eventually come out. I'll lose my job, I'll get blacklisted, and- you don't know these guys, they might not leave it at that. I... know too much."

"We talked about it- there's too many ways they might find out," the Ghost said. "They could send someone I know to surprise me, and if I... if I react like I know them, they'll wonder why. Or- or I could be forced to testify, under the REA. If that happens..."

"My life is over," the Skeleton finished. "Take your pick of how many senses that's in."

The Butler nodded. "It's a tough one. I can think of a few tricks, though," he said.

"Tricks?"

"Like... you've got those passwords, right? If we had 'em- 'course you have 'em written down somewhere- if we stole 'em from you and kicked you off the team, there's nothing they could do to you. It'd be out of your hands."

The Skeleton's eyes widened. "That's- sir, that's generous of you, but-"

The Ghost shook her head. "We can't. They'd... you'd be in breach of contract, they'd stop at nothing to-"

"Hahahaha, contract? Look, we got lawyers here. They eat contracts for breakfast."

The Ghost looked him in the eyes. "I- I said they'd stop at _nothing,_ sir. Lawyers might not be able to protect you."

The Butler's face was hard. "You leave that to me. We're a tough bunch around here, y'know?"

"I- no, sir, I can't let you do that for-"

Suddenly, the Butler's eyes widened and he held up a finger. "Hooold on. Hold on a sec. So- you can't fake doin' it without gettin' in trouble. We can't refuse to let you do it without gettin' in trouble. If our hands get dirty here, if they have any idea either of us got in the way- they're gonna come down on us, right?"

"That _is_ the problem we're trying to deal with, yeah," the Skeleton said.

The Butler grinned. "So- if we could set up some kind of... _accident,_ something that makes it impossible for you to do the job, something not tied to us... we could pick up your slack without drawin' heat."

The Ghost frowned. "Without the passwords, though?"

The Butler frowned, then shrugged. "You lose the password sheet in the accident somehow. No problem."

"It sounds like a _lot_ of problems," the Skeleton said. "What kind of accident are we talking about? How can we possibly make that look like you weren't involved?"

A knowing smile crept across the Butler's face. "That's it, isn't it? We need to find some way to make... let's not call it a _crime,_ let's call it a _trick,_ look like an accident. And we gotta do that in the face of the REA and- if I'm reading between the lines right- the Yakuza lookin' for a reason to come down on us."

"Right," the Skeleton said, skeptically. "So... it's hard. Practically impossible."

"Sure sounds that way," the Butler nodded. "Thing is- I know someone who's practically guaranteed to take that as a _challenge."_

⦻

* * *

X

"...i donot geddit."

"Yeah, 'cause it doesn't make any sense," the Boss said- for with the golden nail gun, she _was_ the Boss, now, in this place.

"I get it," 9 said. "It's a reference to that old game."

"You- wha?" the Boss asked. "You know what the deal with this place is?"

9 made a noncommittal forklift gesture. "Never played it. Just read about it on a wiki walk once."

Ray gave 9 a quizzical look. "A wiki what now?"

"I look around on Wikipedia to learn stuff," 9 shrugged. "Makes downtime less boring."

"that soundss like LERNING, like SCHOOL makes to want to make youdo,," Guns said, accusingly.

Boss pinched the bridge of her nose. "Can you three shut up for one fuckin' second and listen? We got work to do, here."

Guns hiccuped. "i'm dunno," she drawled. "s'like... whats works, to doooooooo... the thingthat kils the vamepire? y'said... y'said, yo got it allsready, about the factes."

Boss paused for a moment to mentally translate. "...Okay. So, you wanna know what you gotta do, if I already got the thing solved in my head, right?"

Ray nervously looked up at the vampire, who hung suspended from the pillar by a golden nail through the hand. She'd gotten bored of taunting the Boss and her workers several minutes ago, after the Boss had taken to whispering to take away taunt ammunition. "That's, uh... yeah, Boss. If we don't h-have to be here, necessarily, w-with all the, uh, dangerous monsters..."

"For the love of- man the hell up, Rizzini! This shit ain't real, what're you bein' a baby for?"

"B-boss, aren't they, like, m-metaphorically real?! Does metaphorical stabbing, uh... hurt?"

The Boss shrugged. "I dunno, I only got knocked around a little. You ain't gettin' paid for all the standin' around you've been doin' if you don't lift a finger to help, though!"

Ray looked despondent, but 9 raised a finger. "Boss, he's got a point. What's our job?"

She sighed. "Look- you see all that damn- what'd she call 'em, furniture? The cosplayin' sword girl, the skeleton, the friggin' butler? Even if we know what's up, we still gotta go through the rigmarole of _literally_ drillin' the truth into 'em. I'm gonna explain you how it all happened, and you're gonna take those metaphor weapons and clear a path through her henchmen so I can land the killing blow. Got it?"

Her subordinates still seemed a little lost, but they nodded assent to the "got it", which was pretty much as good as she was going to get with these knuckleheads.

"So- okay. Here's what they did..."

X

* * *

⦻

"...So that's where we're at," the Butler said. "We got the fog machine from Nonomura-san next door, we got the bag of dry ice from the Lawson, and Ohka-chan down at the butcher's is handlin' the blood."

"Goodness gracious!" one of the Thralls said. "Well, I wish you the best of luck, but... is there something you needed my help for?"

The Vampire smiled. "Well, for one, we'd like you to confirm the existence of the urban legend. And secondly, we'd like one more witness to 'confirm' our alibis, should our machinations go awry and suspicion fall upon us," she said.

The Thrall- an old lady with graying hair up in a bun, wearing a rather tacky Hawaiian-print sundress- nodded sagely. "Should our machinations go awry," she repeated, giggling. "Isn't she _precious?"_

The Vampire huffed and stomped her foot. _"Excuse_ me? Is that any way to speak to Countess Edelweiss, Eternal Mistress of the Earthshattering Typhoon and Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew, and Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy?!?"

The old lady guffawed. "Eternal mistress of the- greatest and only- hohohoho! Oh, dear me, Shi-"

"Countess Edelweiss!!" she insisted.

"Or Unidentified Girl X, in her civilian disguise," the Butler added.

It took the Thrall a few moments to recover from her bout of laughter, but she eventually wiped away the tears. "You- hoho- you have my word that I won't betray your heroic act," she said.

"Aaaand there's one other thing," the Butler added.

"We require access to... teeth. Sharp fangs that may inflict an inhuman bite wound, which can be said to be in my possession." She pointed at the decoration above the door to the Thrall's souvenir shop. "I have identified a candidate for the ersatz 'murder weapon' which ought to be considerably more convenient than training some manner of animal."

The old lady smiled and nodded. "Of course, of course! Certainly, I'll lend it to you!"

The Vampire grimaced.

"Is... something wrong?" the Thrall asked.

"I- well, you see... it's quite... to simply _borrow_ such a thing would be... I would not be able to, in a completely truthful manner, describe them as 'my own teeth'. I... am willing to pay out of pocket to purchase the item wholesale."

The Thrall frowned. "That's... to say that you're the vampire? Is... didn't you say the idea was for the vampire never to show herself?"

The Vampire turned red. "I- of course, not that I would _need_ to say such a thing, aloud, to any investigators at the- during the official investigation, of course, but simply-"

"And I won't tell anyone," she said. "You can just stretch the truth a little, right?"

"N-no! Then I couldn't say it in red!" the Vampire protested.

"...Red?"

"Ahahaha, don't mind the Countess," the Butler said. "She's real particular about certain stuff. Look- let's say, you give it to her, and then she agrees to give it back after. But in the meantime, it's hers. And I'll vouch she keeps her word, yeah?"

"...That just sounds like borrowing," the Thrall said, confused.

"Well, it isn't!" the Countess insisted. "It's technically different! I must be able to spin the truth along its proper axis!"

"Just... just go with it," the Butler said, pleading with the Thrall and looking slightly embarrassed.

⦻

* * *

X

The Boss took cover behind a pew as Girl X let loose a storm of red. It was all the same stuff she already knew, which meant it was just a matter of ducking and weaving between the projectiles to get in range. Problem with that was- there was furniture in the way, able to trip her up if she only focused on the red.

That's where the boys came in. Or, the boys and Guns. Nakada had a blue I-beam she was using to push back Naberius, parrying her blows with the beam's bulk. That was why she kept Guns around- sure, she was drunk off her ass most of the time, but she had the guns to make herself useful when it came to heavy lifting.

Ray had gone for the one he figured was the least threatening- Uesawa in his butler costume- but that wasn't working out like he hoped. He was trying to whack him with a blue wrench, but the guy had these goddamn... magic rune barrier shield dealies. Was that something butlers were supposed to be able to do?

The skeleton faced off against 9, the Khopesh swinging wildly.

"Haruto Hosoo never touched this blade!" the skeleton hissed, in a raspy voice that sounded somehow familiar. "And neither did White Sky Toshiko, except when it removed her head from her shoulders!"

Boss kept her eyes on the scene, getting ready to jump in if she needed. 9 had this! She'd given him exactly the weapon he needed to get through this! _Come on, Yutani...!_

"This blade was used to erase Toshiko's memories!" the skeleton said, pressing his assault with wild swings Yutani barely managed to block with his own blue I-beam. "If you claim it was all done with magnets from the outside, you have nothing!"

"The sword was used by Girl X or her accomplice, Uesawa," Yutani countered, finally seeing an opening and swinging the beam wide. "Damage was also done to Toshiko's memories from the inside, using the sword. That's why the walls were stabbed."

"Neither Toshiko nor Hosoo used that blade! And there were no X marks on the interior walls of the building for Girl X or Uesawa to use!"

Ha. That wasn't gonna stop 9, if he'd followed Boss's explanation.

"There was no need. The X marks were only necessary to guide them when Haruto was locked inside, and them outside. When they were inside, damaging the walls before Haruto was injured, he could have shown them where to strike in person."

The skeleton staggered under one blow, which 9 took as an opening to use his heavy lifting arms to grab it and toss it into the air. As it came down, 9 met it with the I-beam like a baseball. "Haruto Hosoo guided Girl X and Uesawa as to where to strike to delete the necessary memories. All deletion operations that weapon caused were performed by one of those two. Cut-and-paste operations could have been performed by Toshiko herself under Hosoo's guidance, using some other tool."

The skeleton took the impact of the I-beam like a loose assemblage of bones would, breaking apart into a bone shower that scattered all over the floor of the cathedral. The Khopesh, too, fell to the floor, embedding itself in the ground.

The Boss punched her palm and grinned. _One down._

Ray, on the other hand, wasn't having such a good time.

"Dammit, I know you did it somehow...!"

Uesawa chuckled, dancing out of the way of his wrench swings and hemming him in with barriers. "Sorry, but there's just no way you can explain that one. There's no real-world way for someone to be invisible in the mirror!"

Ray growled and missed again with a strike, reeling and crashing into a barrier. "No, I mean- shit! She told me, I know it was like... some kinda memory trick..."

"Memory trick?" Uesawa laughed. "Nah, I think milady X ruled that one out well enough. The vampire was definitely standing in the doorway when Toshiko looked at the mirror! And our friend from Eiserne Jungfrau already told you there's no editing what shows up in the memory!"

"...YaaaaaAAAAAAA!" Ray swung out with his wrench.

Uesawa clicked his tongue. "That's not even an argument, kid." Ray's swing went wide, and then Uesawa's heel came down on his back.

The Boss let out a low growl. She'd just explained this shit _three minutes_ ago, and he said he totally understood it! That god damn- if he didn't get it, he shoulda told her he didn't get it!

She vaulted the pew and opened fire on Uesawa. "It's the timestamps, moron! Toshiko's memory timestamps are hour-to-minute- there's no day on there! All they had to do was set something up some other night, and cut it in!"

Red barriers shattered.

X

* * *

⦻

"This is never gonna work," the Skeleton said.

"Poppycock!" the Vampire responded. "It's simple video editing! Cut while the camera is swinging around, and the motion blur hides any discrepancies in the footage!"

"It _is_ pretty clever," the Ghost admitted.

"God, don't encourage her," the Skeleton groaned. "Look- what about the holes in the wall we're gonna put in tomorrow? What if they notice there's no damage in the shot of the mirror, here?"

"The room, sans the mirror, will be entirely shrouded in darkness, and any such damage would not be visible regardless," the Vampire said, waving a finger. "We need only be sure not to make marks in the plastic immediately visible through the doorway from this position."

The Skeleton hmphed, for lack of any further objection.

"Ka ka ka ka! Every time you doubt my dark powers, you make a fool of yourself, child of man!" the Vampire said through her voice changer.

"Don't fucking call me that, kid," the Skeleton said, in a monotone that betrayed his total resignation to being called that for the thirtieth time. The Ghost giggled.

So- they set up the lights, and then the Ghost looked from the doorway, in which the Vampire did _not_ stand in her platform shoes and obscuring cloak, back to the mirror. Seeing the mirror empty, she turned back and looked at the empty doorway.

"I trust you can handle the switch?" the Vampire asked.

"I'm not gonna personally- if I'm still conscious enough to give her instructions when it's time, or if she remembers what I told her well enough, then yeah," the Skeleton said.

"Yes, yes," the Vampire said, a small ka ka ka escaping. "Your hands will remain entirely clean in this matter."

⦻

* * *

X

There was a _clang_ of truth meeting truth, as a red blade parried an attack, and a followup kick sent the attacker reeling.

"Hahaha! What do you think you're even doing, huh? Do you think that's enough to make me break a sweat?"

Guns spat a little blood onto the black marble floor. She adjusted her jaw, which made a sickening cracking noise, and then renewed her assault.

"nahhhh,, s'possibel! boss got it allfigured out! no holes!"

Naberius snorted, and took a step back, drawing her red longsword in an arc. Ten red spears appeared in the air along the sword's path, forming a barrier between Guns and Edelweiss, where she hung silently from the pillar.

"Here's the thing, guys," Naberius said. "Edie's got her furniture, and maybe you all have that locked down... but I'm not the same as them. To put it in words you'll understand... I'm an outside contractor, get it? Straight from the Great Court of Heaven! And until you can satisfy _me,_ your truth is _never_ gonna be permitted to stand!"

Guns took a long swig from a bottle she'd produced from... somewhere. One advantage of fighting in an unreal metaphor-space was that nobody could stop her from metaphor-ing up tremendous quantities of hard liquor.

"so," she said, swaying from side to side a bit, "ywant me to _satisfy_ yo?"

"Not me personally," Naberius said, turning to wink at Countess Edelweiss. "That's _her_ job. I've already accepted the contract, so... you're going to need to satisfy the terms of that contract. Nine of the ten wedges of the Decalogue!"

Guns guffawed. "more like, the _dick_ aloge," she said.

Naberius quirked an eyebrow. "Okay, sooooo... you're super drunk. This is gonna be kind of unfair, but... hey, a job's a job. Let's take 'em one at a time, okay?"

One of the spears spun in the air, and flew towards Guns. "Knox's 1st! It is forbidden for the culprit to be anyone not mentioned in the early part of the story!"

It was sort of hard to follow with the eyes what happened next. It might've looked like Guns collapsed in a drunken heap- or, if you gave her a little more credit, it might've looked like she ducked out of the way of the spear. What may have been confusing to see... was Guns standing back up again, holding a flat trowel. With a swipe of that trowel, she drew a swath of white in the air, which turned blue.

"duuuuuuuuuube," Guns said, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "its' girl X, and hooloo, and robot whatsherface. puls, also, the guy, with the badanana. alla them got mentioned in the learly part of the stroy."

The red spear shattered on impact, and Naberius's eyes went wide. "Whoa. You were actually paying attention?"

"im all krinds of attention," Guns said, hiccuping.

Naberius frowned. "Okay, well, that was a gimme. And- I think my boss would get mad at me if she knew I was cutting corners, but the 2nd isn't part of this game's contract, so... let's move on to number three!"

One spear vanished, but a third went flying in Guns' direction. "Knox's 3rd! It is forbidden for hidden passages to exist!"

Guns ducked down again, returning her trowel to... the bucket of white paste she had at her feet. When she came up, she spread the paste in the air again, and it turned blue to block the spear. "aint any hidden passessages in our splanation. just soso had his key and used the regulr doros!"

Naberius groaned. "Alright, fine. That's another easy one, but- uh, what even is that stuff?"

Guns looked to the bucket, and then to Naberius. And then guffawed.

"its', uhuhuhuhu, you said, the, guhuhuh, to santisfy you..."

Naberius gave her an impatient look.

"...ahahaah, becase, hahahahaha, s'... m'plastered, so... i got plaster... and your gonna be plastered too!"

"Oh my god." Naberius facepalmed, but giggled into her hand in spite of herself. "I'm technically underage, so... haha. Whatever. Let's go for round four!"

The fourth spear spun to life. "Knox's 4th! It is forbidden for unknown drugs or hard to understand scientific devices to be used!"

A plaster smear in the air went blue. "innit the whole raisin your here?? you ddid all the explainy about how's, memorys don't work, or do, and our idea is just those ways! the cut and pasta for the, the, miror trick, and then just deletehead memories about all the ways robo... toko... toshifour helped with the stuff!"

"What about the mist and smoke, then? Wouldn't they need something special for that?"

"ahaa, look. i know enourgh guys whom vape, to say, tit's not hard for someoene to make smoke, with normal stuff. like a frog machine or dry ice!"

"Then, Knox's 5th! It is forbidden for a... Chinese person to be involved in the crime! For some reason! ...Actually, what are we supposed to do about detective stories set in China...?"

"dicktecive wu didnt'tt do it, duh, and she's the only chinese pereson who was there," Guns said, erecting another plaster shield. "we didn'nt even say anthyding about that hadplening..."

Edelweiss, hung from the pillar, looked pained. She started to speak, but-

"Haaaaa... don't try to talk, Edie! Save your blood- I got this! There's five more wedges left! Knox's 6th! It is forbidden for accident or intuition to be employed as a detective technique! And doesn't all this red truth stuff count as, like... super-intuition? You got tons of clues without ever deducing them from evidence!"

Guns laughed and blocked the spear with another swipe of plaster. "thamt's not inutitions! it's supernatoral agencies! its' all magic a vampire told us! whatcha gonna do- stab me with speare numbor 2???"

Naberius winced- the demands of her client meant she couldn't use the most important weapon in her arsenal. But... fine! There were still four more!

"Well, how about this? White Sky Toshiko was here trying to solve the mystery, right? But you're saying she's one of the culprits! Knox's 7th! It is forbidden for the detective to be the culprit!"

Guns grinned, and this time, she didn't block the spear. Instead, she ducked low and ran straight towards Naberius, dodging under the spear. It curved in the air and turned to pursue her, but it was too late- she'd closed the distance, and she'd grabbed the ninth of Knox's spears from where they floated in front of the priestess.

"gahaha, you chumpts never said she counted as a detectrive! just because she was helpling figure it out? toshiko is an obslerver, and, knock's 9th, it's is permittered for observers to say whatever their concollusions is to be herd!"

Naberius flinched as the ninth spear sundered the seventh. "That's- ngh, fine! But we're not done yet- not by a long shot!"

Spear 8 spun and twisted in the air, and began to chase down Guns, who booked it back over to her plaster bucket. "Knox's 8th! It is forbidden for the case to be resolved with clues that are not presented! This case is practically nothing _but_ clues that weren't presented! It was all just a bunch of stuff the vampire... told... you..."

Guns dove for cover behind a hovering plaster smear she'd already set up. "the vampire totally presgented the elvidence! it's magic, binch! i dont' gotta explain jank shit! gahahaga!"

"N-no! That's not fair!"

"sounds frair to me," Guns shrugged. "the red stuff countsas cloues, or else what's the poimt?"

One spear left, then. If this one broke, the contract was complete, and she wouldn't be able to keep fighting in this world. Rather than trust it to the auto-targeting, Naberius recalled it to her longsword, and ran forward.

"Knox's 10th! It is forbidden for a character to disguise themselves as another without any clues!" Residual lightning from when Edelweiss supercharged the sword with the names crackled on the blade. "The characters mentioned in the early part of the story- the only possible suspects- included Unidentified Girl X... _and_ Edie! If you're claiming that Edie isn't real, and X is just impersonating her, you need to show that there were clues!"

_Crunch._ The blade embedded itself in plaster, which began to give. "that,s... super obvious, righ t?  process of eliminimim... elminater... elemental... it just couldn't be any 1 else!!"

"That's not true!" Naberius said, pushing the blade harder against the barrier. "Even if you eliminate everyone with an alibi- that's you and all your co-workers, plus the sleazy probably-yakuza guy and the cop lady- you've still got suspects! Gavin or Ken could've been disguised, too!"

The blade broke through, but it was caught on another hastily-erected barrier. "uhhhhhhhh. ur right."

Naberius's eyes widened. "Wh- hey, what gives? How come that blocked my...?"

"they totes coulda been disguise. anyone could, yyyeah? donesn't matter who, s'long as it made sents to ask, 'what if, the vamplier was fake'', about it?"

"Plus," the voice behind Naberius said, holding a nail gun to her head, "Magic again. Seein' X's neck bleed after Miki messed her up gets to count as evidence, since you ain't got the second rule to rule it out."

"an thas like, thhhhhe... not the point of the rule, right?" Guns asked. "it's so that y'don't get all... spurpised by the, how someone did a costume good. soo the testimenties don't get use less becaaauuuse oah, fuck, anyone coudl be anyone."

Naberius's red longsword winked out.

"...Aw, crap," she said, looking in horror at the empty hilt. "Sorry, Edie. I, uh... haha, uh-oh. The boss is gonna kill me when she finds out I messed up the red key..."

"Heh," the Boss said. "She sure fuckin' is."

The bark of the nailgun was drowned out by Edelweiss's hoarse cry of despair, as the red nail pierced through Naberius's head and she vanished into black smoke.

"Hey, quit your bellyachin'!" the Boss snapped at the hanging vampire. "Turnabout's fair play, got it? One not-actually-dead metaphor version of a loved one, for one not-actually-dead metaphor version of a loved one!"

"You...!"

"'Sides, even in your fucked-up fiction here, she's some kinda magic angel priest thing, right? Probably she's immortal or some shit. Bet she's fine."

Countess Edelweiss bit back her fury.

X

* * *

⦻

The next night...

"I'm scared."

"...Okay, mark," the Skeleton said. "What's the index?"

"There's three locations," the Ghost said. "Drive AA, partition 1-"

"Junk," the Skeleton said. "Ignore that one from now on, it shows up on half the diagnostics of anything you do because the idiots left in all their debug output."

"Haha, right," the Ghost said. "How about- drive GE partition 5?"

"Maybe. What's the other one?"

"That's... drive VK partition 77," she read off.

"Okay, cool," the Skeleton said. "GE, then. Just in time. Hold position, I'm gonna let her in."

The Skeleton dashed over to the door before the rest of the minute could elapse, and quickly ushered in the Vampire, closing the door behind them. The Butler flipped the switch on the fog machine, to make sure it didn't let in more fog than it should while the door was open.

That complete, he dashed back over to the Ghost's room, and took up a walking pose a few steps ahead of where they'd marked the cut. With that, it looked well enough like the Vampire lurking next to the door had never come through the door, except by way of the mist.

⦻

* * *

X

"...Alright. Let's work this out," the Boss said. She stepped over Uesawa, who Unit 9 had pinned to the ground with one giant forklift hand.

"Gonna be honest: if I'm right, I dunno why you didn't just tell me. If I'd been quicker on the uptake- what if I'd told the cop lady?" She kicked aside a femur from the skeleton as she stalked towards Girl X.

Edelweiss glared at the Boss as she walked forward. "I mean, I can see it," the Boss continued. "You don't know me. Those kids come to you for help, it's enough of a risk goin' to Uesawa. Us folks from outta town, you don't know if we'll snitch. You wanna keep as many people as you can out of the loop."

A rumbling sound shook the cathedral, but the Boss didn't seem alarmed by it. "Pro tip, kid: don't show up to the scene of the crime yourself. All that tauntin' you did in front of the cop... you're lucky she didn't twig to it. Was a dumbass move."

Edelweiss's free hand continued to clutch her throat. There wasn't anything she could say- the golden nail had pierced her hand, but it did more than that. What would be the point of continuing to deflect, now? The truth was already in hand- there was no keeping it hidden.

"You know what you are?" the Boss asked, leveling her nail gun at Girl X. "You're a goddamn weirdo. You talk weird, you act weird, everything about you's just weird, weird, weird."

Then she turned, and pointed the nailgun at Edelweiss, instead.

"But if I'm right... damn if you aren't also one of the sweetest people I ever met. Someone comes to you lookin' for help, tryin' to shake the goddamn yakuza, and you got no reason to stick your neck out for 'em. But... you do it. Just 'cause they asked, and you thought you could help. Didn't even think about how it could put you in danger."

She loaded another golden nail, and undid the safety. The rumbling sound continued, growing louder. "And you don't wanna admit that. Can't for the life of me figure out why, but you want me to think you're some kinda... crazy evil vampire, laughin' your goddamn head off at other people's misfortune. You wanna take all the blame, make yourself out to be the cacklin' villain. But you ain't."

The Boss's finger began to squeeze the trigger. "Yeah, that ain't what you are. What you are... is a goddamn bleeding heart. And a bleeding heart like you's gotta take _care_ of itself. Can't go throwing yourself on swords like this 'cause you need everyone to know what a piece of work you are deep down. 'Cause... you're not.  You're not a vampire!"

With a _k-chunk,_ the golden nail flew, and buried itself in the bleeding heart of the Oborozuka Vampire. With a wretched cry that drowned out the rumbling, as well as the voices of the damned in the magical chorus, Countess Rachel Edelweiss, Eternal Mistress of the Earthshattering Typhoon and Greatest and Only Lady of the Early-Morning Dew, Scribe of the Infinite Tragedy... turned to dust.

The boss gave the dust a quizzical look as it floated down. The rumbling stopped. "...Huh. Figured that might undo the whole thing, but... heh. Looks like it's back to Plan A."

Girl X- motionless, shuddering with restrained sobs, no longer bleeding- looked up. "I... Plan A? I'm afraid I don't-"

"You don't need some kinda fucked up cathedral of lies, kid," the Boss said, offering a hand to Girl X. "I'm not your enemy, got it? If you'd told me from the start, I woulda been all-in on makin' sure the client was safe. You let people soften the landing when you fall, got it?"

"I... I suppose your words are..."

"And don't just laugh it off!" the Boss interjected. "Your laugh's annoying!"

Then, she turned around and called towards one of the darkened windows of the cathedral. "HEY! SAKAKI! HIT IT!"

Outside the cathedral, in the void, a large piece of equipment had rolled up. It was parked, now, no longer making a rumbling noise that shook the cathedral. It was tall- sort of like a crane, but reinforced some more. And hanging from the end of that crane... was a mass of swirling blue light, the size of a small house. A wrecking ball.

"Roger that, boss!" Gavin shouted back, and pressed the red button to release the payload from its mooring. It swung forward, and plowed through the black marble walls of the cathedral. Time seemed to stand still as Yayoi Murasaki delivered the final blow.

"That jackass Takahata wanted Toshiko's memory wiped. That's where it all started, is... fuck, I dunno what kind of Unidentified Crimes X she remembers, but whatever, he wanted all that memory gone. 'Cept... turns out the mechanic they had assigned to her went and fell in love with her, so when he ordered him to get rid of all those memories, he wasn't on board. They had to come up with some way for him to fuck up at removin' the memories, without it being his fault in a way they could pin on 'im and fire him for. So, the basic idea was- put the guy in the hospital, and make sure we could finish installin' her on our own. That's why Uesawa had those passwords for Yutani."

"Problem was, there's that Reliable Evidence Act that makes it so replicants gotta have their memories read. So, they had to come up with a plan to do all this, in a way that Toshiko herself didn't actually remember. That's where they got Unidentified Girl X involved- seems she was the brains of the operation, comin' up with a plan to delete Toshiko's memories and make it look like the accident was an unsolvable crime. They worked together to set up that whole night's memories to make it look like they were just attacked by some kook with a sword, end of story!"

"Let's nail down those specifics, yeah? You had those blackouts, which weren't really happenin'- she just pretended to fall unconscious a bunch, and they snipped out the memories later so she'd think she really had zonked out. Point of that was to create an excuse- if she went in and out at random, it wouldn't look weird when those blackouts hid the setup for the whole act. Blackouts covered Hosoo lettin' X and Uesawa inside to do that... decoration. I bet most of the visible fucked-up holes in the wall were fakes, and they did most of the damage from outside with magnets after Toshiko was done with her end of the setup.

"So they used blackouts to swap stuff in and out. Makin' sure the vampire was in position, hidin' the shit they used to set up his corpse- probably the first time she saw him bleedin' out, that was just makeup and fake blood- he needed to be awake later to guide her through some of the memory shit. And that trick with the vampire bein' invisible in the mirror... that was just a cut-and-paste. They had time to set this up, so they just had her look at an empty doorway in the mirror last night. When she _actually_ looked in the mirror the night of the crime, she totally saw the vampire standin' there, plain as day. They just deleted _that_ memory, and put in another one with the same timestamp. "

"Hosoo and Toshiko put together that closed room from the inside, usin' his key to lock their accomplices outside. Then they texted Sakaki, to make sure Hosoo got to the hospital in time, and from there... if you hadn't shown up to the scene of the crime to fuck with our heads, no one there woulda even remembered what exactly happened that night. All the memories the police could look at... woulda just showed your trick."

X

* * *

⦻

"Grgle," the Skeleton said. He was losing a substantial amount of skeleton blood.

"Shh, shh, don't worry," the Ghost said. "I've got this. You're a good teacher. I know exactly what to do."

"Lrfrgle," he replied.

"The more you try to talk, the more blood you're going to lose. And _no,_ that's not a good thing," she said, before he could register a further blmsrgle. "You don't need to match the pig bloodstain exactly. It's dark, so if there's a little less, they'll miss it. I was careful not to look too carefully."

"Hhh," the Skeleton whispered.

"I love you too," the Ghost said, fitting the drive into the right slot. She could feel her memory change when she did it- remembering seeing an empty mirror when she spun around to check. "...That did it. Thank you, thank you...!"

"Buh," he said.

"I know, I know," she said, holding her phone up to where she'd placed her head on the couch. Now that she could see it up close, she keyed in a text message. "Gavin's going to be on his way any minute. Shhhhh."

She laid down in precisely the spot she'd fallen, careful to roll her head to exactly where it needed to be. With that secured... she called out.

"NOW!"

Outside the locked building- not inside the building, where only one thing could cause blackouts, a thing that was no longer even inside- the Vampire and the Butler took their industrial magnets, and held them over the spray-painted Xs. Those Xs marked the locations of the partitioned drives, and- as she lay there, she realized... she couldn't remember what they were doing there.

Actually- she couldn't remember why she was lying there. She couldn't remember where Haruto was. What had just happened? What were the people outside doing? What? People outside? What people outside? Who had been here? Had anyone been here? No, she'd been with Haruto all night... the vampire! She could remember, there was a vampire, it- it cut off her head, she-

She forgot why she was still awake, and entered sleep mode.

⦻

* * *

O

DK: so that's about it.  
DK: you got pretty close on the how, not gonna lie.  
DK: not so much the who or the why, but you weren't playing with all the cards.  
DK: Lemme guess: I shouldn't tell any of this to anyone  
DK: tbh you should delete your message history here, yeah.  
DK: i just wanted to let you know how it went after the power went tits up. DK: Dunno, I might want to save this  
DK: In case I ever need to blackmail that X girl, or something  
DK: you're not gonna need to blackmail her, don't worry.  
DK: she's...  
DK: a real fuckin' headcase, but she's harmless.  
DK: She wasn't mad when you figured it out?  
DK: haha, nah.  
DK: she was kinda dying to tell me everything, actually.  
DK: had me play this whole irritating logic game with sakaki and to4ko.  
DK: covered her tracks pretty well tbh, but with those extra hints, well.  
DK: Isn't that always how it is  
DK: The villain has to gloat about their master plan  
DK: she ain't a villain, nah.  
DK: hams it up like one, but her heart's in the right place.  
DK: apparently this whole thing gave her an idea for her next novel, so, hey.  
DK: Demand royalties  
DK: yeah, i'm sure this teen kid is super famous. just rakin in cash hand over fist.  
DK: gonna make thousands just by askin for a cut of her amateur novel she's never gonna finish, i bet.  
DK: No  
DK: Demand royalties  
DK: You never know  
DK: i'm not gonna be a dick, miki.  
DK: You're a dick to real estate people all the time  
DK: that's different!  
DK: stuffed suits with more money than guts, i'll haggle the bottom line on all day long.  
DK: this is some reedy five foot four ass kid in a dress.  
DK: Okay hush money from Uesawa then  
DK: yknow?  
DK: that ain't a bad idea.  
DK: i could just throw that on the invoice when i'm done, maybe he'll sign it without lookin.  
DK: Hell yeah  
DK: Then maybe you'll have enough money to take some time off and visit  
DK: shit, miki. i'dve visited when i was done anyway.  
DK: Anyway what happened after?  
DK: well there was that whole fuckin game i told you about.  
DK: with like. saying shit in different colors to figure out lies and whatever.  
DK: x had kind of a weird mental breakdown about bein a vampire in the middle of it, but i smacked some sense into her.  
DK: Didn't you say she was tiny and weak  
DK: And you smacked her around?  
DK: fuckin! verbally! jeez!  
DK: All right fine  
DK: I'll temporarily get off your case  
DK: damn you're too nice to me.  
DK: anyway, after that we just sort of.  
DK: got back to work. patched up the holes, yutani got on installin to4ko with the passwords.  
DK: once the whole crew gets back from holiday, we can probably have this all set in a couple weeks.  
DK: And then what, the radio tower?  
DK: fuck, the radio tower, don't remind me.  
DK: that's gonna be a pain in the ass and a half.  
DK: but no, i said i'm gonna visit first. then the radio tower.  
DK: What about after that?  
DK: Gonna spend another three months in the US again?  
DK: haven't decided.  
DK: there ARE contracts i'm lookin at that could take me around there for that long.  
DK: Okay but don't take those ones  
DK: look.  
DK: i'm gonna take whatever job is gonna get you fixed, okay?  
DK: that's a promise. whatever comes after the radio tower, it's gonna be something that finally gets you a doctor worth a damn.  
DK: Hah  
DK: You didn't forget what we said about promises, right  
DK: yeah i'll deck myself right in the schnoz, full force.  
DK: or i won't, because it's gonna work out exactly like i say it will, got it?  
DK: I'll hold you to that  
DK: you better!

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yayoi Murasaki kept her promise.

After that, Yayoi might've gone back to visit the Oborozuka Trail Supply Center, and take a look at her handiwork. She'd be impressed by how well-maintained it was, if so. When someone _is_ a building, they take excellent care of that building. She might've gone through the fancy sliding doors and said hello to White Sky Toshiko, who would've been delighted to see her. She'd have learned that after all that effort, Haruto Hosoo had decided to leave his job anyway- taking a position as a senior mechanic at a body shop in Oborozuka.

She might've asked To4ko about her memories- the ones she still had, the ones Takahata wanted to bury. To4ko would have refused to elaborate, but she'd have implied that somehow, the information would've been arranged to be discovered some other way, long after the heat had died down. She might've learned that White Sky Logistics had gone out of business, and their extralegal contacts arrested. She may have been impressed, and slightly intimidated, by the ruthless efficiency with which no one in particular had taken them apart, as far as anyone had ever been able to tell.

She may have gone with Miki, who had been cured of her illness, to visit Girl X at her home down the Oborozuka Trail. It might've been a lovely place, where X would then have been living with her wife, a stunning woman who Yayoi would not have quite been able to recognize. Certainly, she would not recognize her as anyone she had killed with a magical nail gun. They might have had a lovely time drinking tea, learning that Yayoi preferred coffee, and doing their best despite a total lack of experience to brew something resembling coffee from the tea available. They might've called up a friend of theirs who had the relevant expertise, and satisfied Yayoi's tastes.

All of this is hypothetical, of course. Despite the statute of limitations which has certainly run out by the time this book was published, it wouldn't do to say anything incriminating about any of the figures involved. Let us not assume this tale is in any way based on a true story.

That said, I must bid you adieu. I hope your time reading has been, as they say, both intellectual and elegant.

* * *

_Shinobu Koshimizu is a Hope's Peak Academy graduate, Ultimate Mystery Novelist, and Dame Commander of the British Empire for her contributions to the mystery genre, among other things. She lives in Oborozuka with her wife, from which she has penned well over one hundred mystery novels. Other hobbies include sunbathing._

_She would like to thank Gavin Sakaki and Miki Murasaki for their unspecified assistance in putting this tale to paper._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If for some reason you read and enjoyed this story without being familiar with both Ryukishi07's Umineko no naku Koro Ni (from which the concept of dueling with red and blue truth to deny the supernatural was taken) and KinuNishimura's Dangan Ronpa: Operation V.K. (from which Yayoi and Shinobu, among other elements, were taken), do yourself a favor and check those out.


End file.
